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Visitor, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 52 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by: Thomas McCarthy
Directed by: Thomas McCarthy
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 11, 2008
DVD: October 7, 2008
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass, and Maggie Moore
In a world of 6 billion people, it takes only one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy's follow-up to his award-winning directorial debut "The Station Agent," we get to know Walter Vale, a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Through newfound connections with virtual strangers, Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life. (Overture Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The Visitor, is, if anything, more imaginative and touching than his first.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
As a writer-director, McCarthy, like the characters and the places that he suffuses with emotion, has poetry in him - and he knows how to let it out. He has a talent for demarcating those spaces in which characters can become whoever they want to be.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It works on several levels, and stands out as a wistful meditation on the psychological cost of 9/11.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Eloquent and unassuming, it's a picture that hits home precisely because it doesn't overreach its grasp.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
The curious thing about The Visitor is that even as it goes more or less where you think it will, it still manages to surprise you along the way.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
A heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
McCarthy's flawless casting may be the film's greatest strength: Veteran character actor Jenkins and his costars vanish into their characters -- their performances are so subtle and unforced that they don't feel like performances at all.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
It is one of the year's most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of powerful performances.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Best movie I've seen so far this year? Hands down, it's Tom McCarthy's superb The Visitor, which turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Jenkins and The Visitor”make lovely music together. It’s a case of a veteran character actor slipping on a leading role like the most comfortable pair of pants in the world.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
This is a film of our times - paranoid, heartbroken, disillusioned - and the rare recent American movie whose characters react the way actual people might.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Like few of his filmmaking peers, McCarthy understands and respects the power of quiet, and how a whisper can be as explosive as a shout.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This audaciously issues-loaded indie drama works, improbably and entirely, on account of the marvelous, often familiar-looking, rarely starring character actor Richard Jenkins and his perfect performance as a stodgy, widowed economics professor.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
A compelling and illuminating story of four people who form an unlikely and momentary friendship of considerable depth.
Read Full Review >Variety John Anderson
A combination immigrant/resurrection tale, Visitor tilts toward the soulful rather than the political, and could be this year's humanistic indie hit.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Gives viewers a perceptive, deeply personal take on the timeless immigrant narrative, in which the most epic journey is finally one of self-discovery.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Powerful second film by writer-director Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent).
Read Full Review >Empire Anna Smith
The tension dips occasionally but stick with it and you'l be richly rewarded.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The Visitor is a small movie, but its emotions could not be writ any larger.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The combined effect is, as I say, small but sincere. McCarthy may prove to have something bigger in him, or he may be a miniaturist content to build little stories and fill them with all the humanity they can bear. If that's the case, there are far less worthy ways to spend a career.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
At first glance Walter isn't a guy you want to spend two hours with. But by the end of the film, you don't want to see him go. Jenkins is like that: He sneaks up on you and steals your heart with light-fingered skill.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
This is a simple story of human drama that provides an incentive to spend a couple of hours in a movie theater during a spring that has not provided many such reasons.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The Visitor tells of renewal through love. Its song is tinged with sadness, but stirring all the same.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Definitely a film that marches to its own drumbeat.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason McBride
The actor - like everyone else in this tedious yet affecting film - rises well above his soft-headed, solipsistic material, turning in a performance of nuanced delicacy.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Both director and cast exhibit the dedication of those who truly believe in the message at hand. But with so much earnestness onscreen, the message occasionally gets in the way of the movie itself.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
McCarthy is so careful not to take a political stand that his film seems neutered by good intentions. In the spirit of squishy humanism, he soft-pedals a hard-hitting topic.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Scott Foundas
McCarthy unquestionably means well, but he's made one of those incredibly naïve movies that gives liberals a bad name, and which does more to regress the sociopolitical discourse than advance it.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 52 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Andrew C gave it a9:
I think this film was especially good on a number of levels. For the certain people in the US giving it a negative score based on "leftist crap": I really hope one day you have a situation where 'humanity' and 'humanism' comes into play in your personal life, and this film comes back into your mind. We're not talking politics here in the general sense, even though of course the film portrays both major sides. I was very impressed with the elegance and above all dignity that comes across throughout the film. The characters are well fleshed out and very believable. Even the characters who some might label the "evil" guys I find sympathy with - the film shows how the System works and even the people with the bad news are just tracking along their rails, as per their job. This movie is both a wake-up call to the average middle class individual stuck in their "life" and yet not actually living it, and also a call to post-9/11 --> we all understand the reason for tightened security, but I really hope we don't lose our humanity in the process. (apologies this wasn't a true review - the lame negative reviews affected me! - the legitimate negatives were fine!)
Pat A gave it a4:
Pure, unadulterated, leftist crap. You know the type...soft music while the poor, trampled-on protagonist goes about his business fighting against the man. Great if you want to show your softer side to a girl to get her to sleep with you that night, but otherwise you'll be sticking your finger down your throat by the end of the movie.
Gary gave it a3:
Naive to the point of being embarrassing. It's hard to suppress some serious eye-rolling when adult characters start yelling ingenuous nonsense like: "It's not fair! He's a good man!" A note to Thomas McCarthy: Bad things happen to good people. And only for a person lucky enough to be raised in the sheltered cocoon of middle class America could this come as a revelation.
Jennifer L gave it a9:
The reviews that try to paint this as some sort of "leftist" movie are ridiculous. It's not a political movie by any means and subscribes to no ideology. The film is emotionally honest and masterfully executed. Don't listen to the diatribes trying to politicize this movie. See it and you'll love it.
Edgar M gave it a5:
A feel-good movie for the Left. You get to bleed for the useless illegals but don't have to have a happy ending. Truly fine performances by Jenkins and Abbass but there really wasn't much of a credible plot. Unless you a post-modern groupie who salivates at the mention of "the others" or are in need of yet one more reason to feel guilty for being an American, the story drags and the manipulation grates.
holly c gave it an8:
Loved the subtle story and really true-to life characters. From the immigrants, to the professor (Jenkins was brilliant), the mother and the institutional workers---all of it was put together perfectly, to avoid both a ham-fisted hollywood cliche story, or the opposite--an overly PC, agenda indie film. Well done Jenkins--definitely earned his Oscar nom---and bravo McCarthy---I will definitely keep watching what he does.
Uz K gave it a10:
Very touching. Loved the emotions exemplified in this film.
