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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
Babysitters, The
32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
62
Battle for Haditha
47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
63
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
82
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
48
Dark Matter
35
Deal
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
59
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
52
Noise
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
Plumm Summer, A
67
Praying with Lior
46
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
17
Prom Night
69
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72
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48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
85
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24
Sex and Death 101
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Shelter
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40
Sleepwalking
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64
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Standard Operating Procedure
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Stuff and Dough
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Surfwise
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Tashan
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
57
Teeth
56
Then She Found Me
55
Tracey Fragments, The
56
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Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
76
Unforeseen, The
xx
Unsettled
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Up the Yangtze
55
Vice
79
Visitor, The
64
Water Lilies
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57
Without the King
74
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Jellyfish
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Son of Rambow
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
Girls Rock!
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Fugitive Pieces
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
54
Mister Lonely
52
Noise
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
46
Previous Engagement, A
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Assassination of Richard Nixon, The
ThinkFilm Inc.
MPAA 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)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Kevin Kennedy
Niels Mueller
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Niels Mueller
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 26, 2005
Theatrical: December 29, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
95 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

80
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
It's a deeply affecting performance, and it drives this quietly powerful, unrelenting film.

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.

80
Empire
Alan Morrison
Stark, bold drama.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
This riveting film qualifies as the anti-crowd-pleaser -- but Penn makes it unthinkable to turn away.

75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Assassination reminds you that Penn can be very funny.

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.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
A faithful portrait of a period in American social history.

75
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
It features Sean Penn in a mesmerizing portrayal of the would-be hijacker.

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.

70
Village Voice
Michael Atkinson
Moody, pretentious, but potent.

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.

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.

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.

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?

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A downer of a drama.

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."

63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
The movie doesn't make you care.

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.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
This is another movie where politics trump the narrative.

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.

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.

50
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Only moderately compelling.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?


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