I can imagine now that Resurrecting the Champ, last year's Josh Hartnett journo-drama, is available on DVD its main consumers will be journalism schools from Annenberg to Medill. I envision it fitting on their video-library shelves, the one reserved for Hollywood films, frequented mostly by first-year students with short attention spans who are studying journalistic ethics.

It would come after Ace in the Hole (1951), All the President's Men (1974), The Hoax (2006), The Hunting Party (2007), The Paper (1994), Shattered Glass (2003), and Welcome to Sarajevo (1997).

Perhaps it's only a coincidence that two of those star Richard Gere. Resurrecting the Champ does not, thankfully. But that still doesn't keep it from being the weakest film of my imaginary curriculum.

Resurrecting the Champ isn't much more than the hopeless romantic's Shattered Glass, where Hayden "Nooooooo" Christensen plays the whiny New Republic writer Stephen Glass whose inferiority complex drives him to fabricating increasingly sensational stories on everything from young Republican alcoholics to teenager soon-to-be-millionaire computer hackers. It's a story that made the headlines and a film that successfully used realism to craft a sucker-punch of a drama.

Resurrecting the Champ isn't even the Bud Light version of Shattered Glass. It's straight-up Natural Light. Denver Times sports writer Eric Kernan seizes his big break when he finds a transient (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who claims to be the former heavy weight boxer Bob Satterfield. Hartnett's subsequent cover story lands him acclaim and a boxing-commentary gig with Showtime. Problem is... Sattefield's been dead for years and the imposter is actually Tommy Kincaid, one of Sattefield's vanquished opponents. Hartnett's career is pretty much ruined when the paper is sued. Of course, being Hollywood, somehow he's able to turn it around to end with a happily-ever-after montage.

The irony is that the film's about as inaccurate as the article it centers around. Kernan didn't exist. The original author was J.R. Moehringer, who worked three states away for the Los Angeles Times. There's no realism to the film, period. The newsroom debates are fantastically tame, the dramatic monologues completely melodramatic, and Kernan's seemingly 24-hour rise to the top just plain unbelievable. Add to that some mediocre performances by somewhat talented TV actors (Alan Alda, Kathryn Morris, Teri Hatcher) and you can't help but think that "Regurgitating the Crap" would've been a more fitting title. (That's not to mention the disappointing lack of a true-story-behind-the-fake-story documentary in the DVD's special features... and that Jackson never says "motherf*cka.")

Despite the over-the-top plot development, it's still a film that'll inspire discussion. Kernan's character rings true when it comes to the white lies journalists tell to editors to climb the ladder. However, the real question is: Should a sloppy journalist really get a chance to redeem himself by writing about his sloppiness, however heartfelt? I'm inclined to say no. But then again, we'll see whether I snatch that opportunity if ever I find myself in his shoes.

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