Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
39 Adventures of Power
66 Afterschool
73 Amreeka
49 Antichrist
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Big Fan
65 Black Dynamite
76 Bliss
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
76 Broken Embraces
70 Bronson
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
60 Collapse
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
53 Dare
50 Defamation
67 Departures
70 Earth Days
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
88 Fantastic Mr. Fox
31 Fix
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
xx From Mexico with Love
28 Gentlemen Broncos
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Horse Boy, The
74 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
26 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
43 Little Traitor, The
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
46 Love Hurts
84 Maid, The
45 Mammoth
75 Messenger, The
55 Missing Person, The
59 More Than a Game
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
48 New York, I Love You
66 No Impact Man
26 Oh My God
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
79 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73 Red Cliff
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
65 Skin
41 Splinterheads
42 Staten Island
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
58 Storm
82 Sun, The
49 Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73 That Evening Sun
61 Trucker
49 Turning Green
83 U2 3D
45 Uncertainty
67 Visual Acoustics
32 War on Kids
67 Way We Get By, The
65 Wedding Song, The
xx White on Rice
59 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74 Woman in Berlin, A
43 Women in Trouble
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The

EMAILPRINTThinkFilm Inc.

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The reviews
63
7.8 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Kevin Kennedy
Niels Mueller

Directed by: Niels Mueller

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 29, 2004
DVD: April 26, 2005

Running Time: 95 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for language and a scene of graphic violence

Starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson, Brad Henke, Jared Dorrance, Nick Searcy, and Jenna Milton

A chilling drama that explores and exposes the dark side of the American Dream, this film focuses on the prescient and tragic true story of Sam Bicke (Penn), a disillusioned "everyman" who, in 1974, was driven to plot the assassination of the 37th President of the United States. (ThinkFilm)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This is one of the rare movies to explore American materialism through the eyes of an all-too-ordinary person who isn't up to the challenges of everyday life.

Read Full Review >
100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

What surprises us most is the picture's topicality, and not just because terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon three years ago.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Does the film have a message? I don't think it wants one. It is about the journey of a man going mad. A film can simply be a character study, as this one is.

Read Full Review >
88

Premiere Aaron Hillis

The brilliant subtleties of this absorbing, must-see drama are best seen through Penn, who transforms a strongly nuanced script into the greatest performance of the year.

Read Full Review >
83

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Director Niels Mueller's attempt to create a middle-class "Taxi Driver" (he tips his hand a bit smugly by respelling Byck's name to evoke Travis Bickle) has a creepy, meticulous exactitude.

Read Full Review >
80

The New Yorker David Denby

The movie re-creates Sam's miserable days with enough sympathy to come within hailing distance of such emblematic works of American disillusion as Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and Saul Bellow's "Seize the Day."

Read Full Review >
80

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

It's a deeply affecting performance, and it drives this quietly powerful, unrelenting film.

Read Full Review >
80

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Penn's lead performance is the main attraction here, and it's a fine piece of work--far superior to his overly showy Oscar-winning role last year.

Read Full Review >
80

Empire Alan Morrison

Stark, bold drama.

Read Full Review >
75

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This riveting film qualifies as the anti-crowd-pleaser -- but Penn makes it unthinkable to turn away.

Read Full Review >
75

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Assassination reminds you that Penn can be very funny.

Read Full Review >
75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Re-creates the era convincingly, and, as usual, Penn is mesmerizing: a consummate movie actor at the peak of his game.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A faithful portrait of a period in American social history.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

It features Sean Penn in a mesmerizing portrayal of the would-be hijacker.

Read Full Review >
70

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Comparisons to "Taxi Driver" are unavoidable and mostly unflattering to Mueller's film, but Assassination engages more directly with the political fissures of the time, which deeply divided the nation.

Read Full Review >
70

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Moody, pretentious, but potent.

Read Full Review >
70

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

First-time director Niels Mueller and his co-screenwriter Kevin Kennedy depict Sam's disintegration expertly and they have fashioned a well-made picture with much to like.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Powerful, haunting, but ultimately disappointing. Few American movies address abject failure as forcefully as this one, and Sean Penn delivers an intense performance as Bicke.

Read Full Review >
67

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

See it for the star. Penn makes a film that in many respects feels low scale and ordinary into something painfully human and real.

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Penn's Bicke is often so pitiable it's hard not to want to look away – but what else to expect from perhaps our most compulsively watchable contemporary actor?

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A downer of a drama.

Read Full Review >
63

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Sometimes, you'd swear he's (Penn) reprising his performance as a mentally handicapped man in "I Am Sam."

Read Full Review >
63

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie doesn't make you care.

Read Full Review >
63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a tribute to Penn's talent and guts that he manages to bring it off--even if the movie doesn't.

Read Full Review >
63

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is another movie where politics trump the narrative.

Read Full Review >
60

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

That The Assassination of Richard Nixon is as well directed, acted and shot as it is makes Mr. Mueller's inability to invest his film with significance all the more disappointing.

Read Full Review >
60

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The director and co-writer, Niels Mueller, has also done his work well, but the film feels insubstantial at 95 minutes, even though -- or maybe because -- it bristles with borrowed ideas and unavoidable associations.

50

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The Assassination of Richard Nixon makes Bicke suffer the greatest indignity: it turns him into a relentless bore.

Read Full Review >
50

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Only moderately compelling.

Read Full Review >
50

Variety Todd McCarthy

Penn's magnetism and hesitant line delivery create what interest there is, although the whole picture suffers from a central figure who can never get it together on any level.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

Penn is mostly in "I Am Sam mode" here, doing a lot of shoe-gazing and mumbly-talk, but not without adding an edge of bitter intelligence to his character; he's just too good an actor to merely repeat himself, even when the material encourages him to.

Read Full Review >
50

USA Today Mike Clark

Even if audiences can get by the tasteless shock title, it's tough to figure who will ever watch this movie - even when it's on cable.

Read Full Review >
50

LA Weekly David Chute

This often gripping but also unremittingly grim and drab account of these events is a "Taxi Driver" without the cathartic finale.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A slight movie and a major downer, is an acting showcase for Sean Penn. That's good, but not enough.

Read Full Review >
50

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Unfortunately, the trajectory of Mueller and co-screenwriter Kevin Kennedy's repetitive screenplay echoes "Taxi Driver" so closely as to invite unfavorable comparison with Martin Scorsese's benchmark chronicle of alienation.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Chris Barsanti

The primary problem with The Assassination of Richard Nixon comes in its attempts to make drama out of a minor man's minor stab at infamy.

Read Full Review >
50

Slate David Edelstein

This is one of Penn's punishing, single-dimension performances, and it seems to be even more whiningly masochistic than what's called for in the script.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It grinds on and on without mercy. You're in the cross hairs. There is no escape. Where is that Secret Service when you need it?

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Myles #13 gave it an8:
Note to future viewers: if you don't like thinking during movies, do NOT rent 'Assassination'. Sean Penn's performance is meant to make the average person realize the often meaningless-ness of their existence. 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon' played like a modern day 'Death of a Salesman'... in both, the lead character becomes quite disillusioned with their meager existence, and takes drastic measures. Good movie!

Jeff M. gave it an8:
Very interesting. Penn really makes you feel for this poor bastard, but still never makes him remotely likeable. Very high degree of difficulty on that one.

Julie L. gave it a9:
Not a film for people who want to be coddled and spoon-fed. A thinkers' film, with an absolutely rivteing (you can't take your eyes off him) performance by Sean Penn.

Greg T. gave it a2:
Sean Penn is a great actor who bored and annoyed me to tears in this movie. What is the purpose of movie making today? Is it to provide a platform for accomplished actors to portray the difficult role of anti-hero? If so then this movie accomplished this. Steven M. who posted a review below was right on. This movie protrays an individual whom you don't like, and over whom you are not concerned and with whom you are not engaged. Movies currently are often now venues for actors and screenwriters to explore their genres with no acknowledgement of the audience at all, with no resolution, with no characters that one could even remotely relate to, with no real plot nor with any investment in the viewer. You are not involved in this movies, you simply observe them.

LeeH gave it a5:
Unrelentingly grim- had to turn it off about half-way- was too 'preachy'. Thought Penn's character was monotonic- like in 'one note'.

Vince H. gave it a9:
Sean Penn is absoultely amazing in this movie. Yes this is a very well-made and intelligent study of the interior life of a tortude man, and a good one at that. But it is Penn who lifts this above an average and pretentious art film. This is a far more powerful and affecting a performance than either Mystic River or 21 Grams. Get the movie for his acting alone.

gary l. gave it a10:
Best film (and best performance by Penn) of the year. By a long shot the most affecting film I've seen in the last year or two.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use