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Diamond Men

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Dan Cohen
Directed by: Dan Cohen
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 28, 2001
DVD: February 11, 2003
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Robert Forster, Donnie Wahlberg, Bess Armstrong, Jasmine Guy, and Nikki Fritz
An aging diamond salesman (Forster) with a heart condition is forced to train a brash, inexperienced kid (Wahlberg) with whom he clashes almost immediately.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
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...
Washington Post Desson Thomson
A great little film, dignified by a superb performance, Diamond Men is a gem.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Genuine, amusing and, best of all, humanly scaled and humanely oriented.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
This film is extraordinary on several counts: its knowledge of an arcane trade (Mr. Cohen ran his family's diamond business after his father died); its fondness for telling good life stories; and, above all, its superb starring performance.
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This may not have gotten much publicity, but it's a lot more engaging than most movies that have; Forster alone makes it unforgettable.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Doug Brunell
Wow. A heist movie that is more focused on people than it is crime. An incredible cast - Robert Forster and Donnie Wahlberg. Getting to see Kristin Minter's breasts and hearing her say, "F---." Damn near a perfect movie.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The picture depends completely on those two performances (Whalberg, Forster), and the two actors come through.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It looks and listens to its characters, curious about the unfolding mysteries of the personality. It is a treasure.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Riding a mood that's tilted to the jazzy blues that Eddie prefers to Bobby's blasting rock on the car radio, Diamond Men is a sparkly film that's easy to love.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Forster carries the movie with an effortless grace and professionalism, creating a character of surprising nobility who is the very opposite of the Willy Loman caricature that's been the de rigueur salesman stereotype in movies of the past 50 years.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A very small film but a sweet one, an easygoing venture of the feel-good variety. What sets it apart is something even larger pictures often lack: an excellent performance by its star.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
The movie has an intriguing wild card in Bess Armstrong as an ex-prostitute turned Zen masseuse. I'm not sure if she's meant to be brilliantly evolved or an idiot -- or if the actress is really good or really, really terrible. But her chemistry with Forster is terrific.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Eddie Miller (Robert Forster), the stolid protagonist of Diamond Men, a small, finely acted slice of American life, is the sort of character the movies normally shun like the plague for lack of glamour.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
This is Forster's show, and he doesn't disappoint.
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A witty, winning inversion of the famous Arthur Miller play.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Frank Lovece
The ever-charismatic character actor George Coe stands out as a small-town jeweler grateful for a late-life affair.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
But its quiet, solid center is Forster's Eddie, a man who can keep his cool under pressure and, with the merest twitch of a facial muscle, reveal a capacity for change.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Diamond Men's potential as a diamond in the rough turn out to be more "rough" than "diamond."
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
After a promising start, writer-director Daniel M. Cohen pours on schmaltz straight out of the similarly themed "Diamonds," including the proverbial hookers -- with hearts of gold.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Loses its way in a crime-movie subplot and a less-than-believable love affair.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
If you're going to make a movie about men talking, shouldn't they have something important to say?
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.8 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jim K. gave it a 10:
A great movie, wholesome and truly moving, it reminds us of our own humanity with the story of man's suffering and compassion. Forster and Walberg are very well developed characters who really make the movie one of great quality.....rare in this day and age.
J. A. gave it a 9:
Interesting, human, clever, and funny. How many of those do we get any more?
Dean R. gave it a 10:
A refreshing shock of a movie, with a credible plot, virutally unheard of in today's Hollywood, eerily believable in fact. Pitch perfect performances by Robert Forster, as a lifelong road warrior who plays mentor in the wholesale diamond business to a disheveled Donnie Walberg who doesn't miss a cue either. Bess Armstrong, as Forster's love interest comes to the film late but grabs your attention with a Silky Sullivan move in the stretch which dazzles as well. This is film making and Daniel M. Cohen (writer/director) should be on everyone's A list. Highly recommended.
Ben H. gave it a 10:
Engaging character study from start to finish. A well made slice of life.
