Stunningly cinematic and audacious on every level, writer/director Tim Robbins's look at the collision of the Depression-era art world and politics may well be a masterpiece.
Commands respect as mainstream filmmaking with more of an agenda than just pimping cinematic junk food to the brain-dead masses.
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It's packed with such passion, humor, fine acting in small roles - there are no big ones - and vitality in the storytelling that the lesson comes across entertainingly.
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Brings the '30s vividly to the screen.
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Succeeds far more often than not in delivering a credible, kaleidoscopic portrait of creative, and often famous, individuals.
63
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Wildly ambitious, unwieldy epic.
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Historical forces and famous ghosts jostle past each other in this evocation of mid-1930s New York like harried commuters at Grand Central Station.
Obviously influenced by the style of Robert Altman's multi-character extravaganzas, Robbins has seized on this incident as the centerpiece in a carnival about the conflicts among art, politics and commerce.
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's an interesting and likably ambitious movie with an ensemble of mostly engaging character vignettes, but, sadly, it misses its mark.