Was The Ghost Writer overlooked because of a backlash against Polanski?

I'm surprised at how "The Ghost Writer" has been almost entirely overlooked and underappreciated. Maybe it's a backlash against director Polanski? True, it did pop up as an also-ran on a few Best Movies of 2010 lists (would have made mine as well had I seen it sooner), but I can't remember anyone seeing it or talking about it - yet it's a movie that should have drawn a solid commercial response, and if he'd only been able to cast a more box-office lead actor there's no reason this smart, provocative suspense film shouldn't been as successful as the Bourne films, for example. In fact, it's much smarter than the Bournes, let alone the Bondses. The Ghost Writer, based on a book by Richard Harris (I think) and not to be confused with the Philip Roth novel, is about guy hired to ghost the memoirs of a former British PM closely modeled on Tony Blair - big supporter of the U.S. and of the Bush admin. The first-hired ghost was found dead, apparent suicide, weeks before publication deadline. Obviously we know the writer is in way over his head, and strange his world gets increasingly threatening as he learns that the manuscript he's working on is top secret and as it's reported that the PM is under investigation as a war criminal. There's CIA involvement, complex relations between the writer and the PM's very powerful wife, lots of interesting and completely credible plot twists, very good tense sequences, and a powerful conclusion. Worth noting that all this accomplished with no high-tech high-jinx, action-comic car chases, or deadly explosions. A very literate thriller that kept me guessing and thinking and, at the end, wondering: how much of this could be true?