Burt Lancaster was great in Sweet Smell of Success. The producers of this film, Scandal Sheet, try to reproduce that chemistry with Burt Lancaster as the publisher of a major scandal sheet. Tabloids now are digital, but that does not reduce their popularity. The vast majority of US citizens are less than college-educated, and are working class stiffs who need a bit of excitement in their lives once in awhile.
Tabloids, digital or in print like the one portrayed in this 1980s film, gave these working class people something easy on the mind to read and contemplate. They were not about to read War and Peace with their meatloaf. Lancaster is good here, as is Pamela Reed, as the legitimate writer who understandably takes a high-paying job on the West Coast to write for a magazine she has ethical problems with. A preposition is a bad word to end a sentence with. Just let that go by. Oh God, now I am stuck with this endless poor joke I put in. Help! Someone stop me from going off. OK, enough; I will get back to the review before the article is over.
Anyway, Burt and Pamela are very good in their roles, but the film is a bit predictable (unlike Sweet Smell of Success). Other than that, an enjoyable 90 minutes of watching two very good professional actors.