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Assassination of Richard Nixon, The
ThinkFilm Inc.

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The reviews


7.8

based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 18 votes
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Rate this movie

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

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

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.

Empire Alan Morrison

Stark, bold drama.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

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

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Assassination reminds you that Penn can be very funny.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A faithful portrait of a period in American social history.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

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

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.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Moody, pretentious, but potent.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A downer of a drama.

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."

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie doesn't make you care.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is another movie where politics trump the narrative.

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.

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.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

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

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Only moderately compelling.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
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.

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The ThinkFilm Inc.

Assassination of Richard Nixon, The
ThinkFilm Inc.