Based on true events, Most Wanted concerns an obnoxious yet tenacious investigative journalist who doggedly pursues a story about police corruption. Victor (Josh Hartnett) is a brash reporter for a Toronto newspaper and the father of a newborn daughter; the latter presents a personal crisis that nearly upends Victor's marriage. Looking for a big scoop about international drug smuggling routes, he travels to Thailand and discovers that a Canadian citizen, a young drug addict named Daniel (Antoine Olivier Pilon), has been set up as a patsy by Toronto cops and is rotting in a Thai prison. With his wife, editor and officials warning Victor to back away from his dangerous crusade to free Daniel, he sticks with his mission to get the poor fellow home. Written and directed by Daniel Roby, Most Wanted has an irritating tone of smugness that trickles down from Hartnett's one-dimensional portrayal of an unlikable antihero. Similarly, the actors playing crooked lawmen are paper cutouts, and a supporting role by comedian-actor Jim Gaffigan as a slimeball drug dealer in cahoots with the police is far from believable. There's really no excuse for Roby's obviousness with this David and Goliath story; there's a strong tradition of nuanced films (Spotlight, All the President's Men) about investigative journalists that could easily have included Most Wanted with more thoughtfulness.