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Reel Truth

How True Is The True Story?

We rate “based on a true story” movies for historical accuracy by comparing the film to real events, biographies, and trusted sources like History vs. Hollywood.

Featured Reviews

The Wolf of Wall Street
72

The Wolf of Wall Street

2013 • Leonardo DiCaprio

The film accurately shows Jordan Belfort’s rise, the massive fraud at Stratton Oakmont, and his eventual downfall. However, several iconic scenes were heavily exaggerated or invented, including the dwarf-tossing incident and the “sell me this pen” speech.

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Oppenheimer
89

Oppenheimer

2023 • Cillian Murphy

The movie closely follows the real events of the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s life. However, key scenes like the pond conversation with Einstein were invented, and several meetings were combined for pacing.

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Goodfellas
81

Goodfellas

1990 • Ray Liotta

The film closely follows Henry Hill’s life in the Lucchese crime family. However, the famous “How am I funny?” scene was dramatized for tension, and several murders and timelines were condensed.

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How We Rate

We evaluate each movie based on how accurately it portrays the core story and major real events. We do not penalize minor dialogue changes or small timeline adjustments made for cinematic pacing.

Accuracy Scale (out of 100)

  • 90–100 Extremely accurate — very few meaningful changes
  • 70–89 Mostly accurate — good overall with some dramatization
  • 50–69 Mixed — captures the spirit but includes many inventions
  • Below 50 Heavily fictionalized

A higher score means the movie stays closer to documented history. A lower score means it takes more creative liberties with major events or adds significant invented scenes.