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Noise
THINKFilm


6.2

based on 16 reviews
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based on 4 votes
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FILM:

The Believer

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Tim Robbins, Bridget Moynahan, William Baldwin, William Hurt, and Gabrielle Brennan

David is a successful lawyer who can't stand the fact that Manhattan is a place where it's too noisy to get a good night's sleep, listen to classical music, or even make love to his wife without disturbance. Every time David hears a car alarm going off, he swings into action. Adopting the guise of "The Rectifier," he engages in acts of vandalism that satisfy him immensely but which generate no end of grief from his wife. They also make him politically controversial when he provokes the ire of the city's arrogant mayor. (THINKFilm)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Henry Bean
DIRECTED BY:	Henry Bean
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: May 9, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	88 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA
LANGUAGE(S):	English \| Russian

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...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

As a follow-up to his striking 2002 directorial debut, "The Believer," this second obsessive study in fanaticism by writer-director Henry Bean has its own delirious integrity and outsider-art charm.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A satisfyingly screwy New York story.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The black comedy Noise may be a one-joke movie but it's a resonant one.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Robbins plays David with the self-assurance that there's no combination sexier than smart, funny and self-righteously angry.

The New Yorker David Denby

Bean's touch is unsteady, and Noise is certainly odd, but the movie is alive with the creative madness of New York.

Slate Dana Stevens

Noise is never quite as smart as it tries to be. But as summer and its mouth-breathing blockbusters loom large on the horizon, there's something touching about a movie that even tries.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Bean fills in some empty spaces with heady thoughts about the nature of power and beauty, but the movie's real appeal lies in the simple but by no means inconsiderable pleasure of watching Tim Robbins take a hammer to a parked car as it wails pointlessly, deep into the night.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The movie has enough big-city wickedness and merry cruelty to keep things skittering unpredictably.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Eccentric and generally entertaining.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's wickedly amusing for a little bit -- Robbins and Hurt really get into it -- but ultimately the film becomes what it's fighting: just noise.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Noise ultimately becomes a slice of city life instead of a great satire.

Variety Jay Weissberg

Amusing but marginal diatribe against aural assault in Manhattan.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Noise has too many warring genres on the boil and too many thoughts jockeying for supremacy.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Bean always writes interesting scripts that toy with big ideas, but the films that result aren't always good. (Or even bearable.) Here he sets out to make an aural "Fight Club," but instead he's made a movie about a guy who really needs to buy earplugs.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The movie, whose cacophonous soundtrack, when turned up, conjures your worst nightmare of sirens, car alarms, jackhammers and sundry aural assaults, is a one-trick film that rapidly wears out its welcome.

The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber

Despite its intriguing premise, the movie is a disappointing misfire.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John A. gave it an8:
With all due respect, the criticism that "sounds of city living" pale in comparison to global warming, terrorism, and economic collapse misses, from my viewing, the obvious metaphor that that same forces that propel the usage of car alarms (which have proven to be ineffective in reducing theft) are the same that continue to cause global warming and economic colllapse. I agree there might be too many ideas jockying for supremacy but the call to look beyond the surface and stand alone, if need be, against these forces resonates throughout. Actually, the film (which carries some very witty dialogue) is prescient in this sense: after all, we did stand up and elect President Obama: the film inspires the hope that, even if we start with city noise, we can pull together to stop billion dollar no-bid contracts for trillion dollar, unnecessary wars. As David (Tim Robbins) declares, what if Jonas Salk had made appeasement with polio. The director has enough sense to encase the Dr. Salk reference, with an awareness of its delusions of grandeur, in one of the film's sweetest scenes of husband and wife teasing and embracing on a quiet sofa. Is that really too much to ask?

Ken G. gave it a2:
Yeah, in a world of global warming, terrorism, and economic collapse car alarms and other natural sounds of city living are among the world's biggest problems. This is just a ridiculous story, filled with ridiculous characters. Also, from a narrative standpoint, it is kind of an incorhent mess.

Jay H. gave it a6:
Fine story with solid direction and a great screenplay. The cast is terrific and it is always interesting and well paced.

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THINKFilm