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6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9

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  1. MarcK.
    Oct 22, 2002
    7
    A good job, and a fair portrayal of Bob Crane, IMHO. Kinnear does a surprisingly good job. Dafoe plays a great sleaze bag, which didn't seem like too much of a stretch for him. Sometimes I find Schrader can be too over the top in his movies, and with this subject matter, I thought he might be. But he did a good job.
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  2. ChadS.
    Sep 1, 2004
    6
    Mounting a film around a minor actor like Bob Crane is risky, because in all likelihood, he had nothing to lose anyway; porn, or no porn. The best Crane probably could've hoped for was a game show host-gig like his "Hogan's Heroes" co-star Rich ard Dawson. "Auto-Focus" goes overboard in positioning John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe) as the pusher (the temptation of home video) and Crane (Greg Kinnear) as an innocent, who would order grapefruit juice at a bar. "Auto-Focus" is somewhat similar to "Almost Famous", since both films have as secondary storylines, how changes in entertainment (home-video, and the commodifacation of youth culture, respectively) transforms the American landscape. … Expand
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  3. ChristianV.
    Nov 7, 2002
    10
    This movie rules!!! Kinnear and Dafoe put on brilliant performances in this movie. A great mixture of comedic relief and conflict. The opening credits remind of another great film The Kid Stays In The Picture.
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  4. StephenS.
    Jul 12, 2003
    6
    The smartest thing about this movie is its double-meaning title. If the truth is as it appears, sixties ?Hogans? Heroes? TV star Bob Crane was another fool who chose a well-trodden pathway to hell. But, given Schrader?s preoccupations, you can see why he?d be interested in Crane?s progressive loss of self-esteem and self. In the first half of the movie, the director tends to assume our dramatic interest in Crane, rather than riveting the audience. He perhaps goes half a genre too far. At one extreme, there are factual, documentary inserts, voiced over by the Crane character. In the centre is the body (or bodies, naked) of the movie. At the other extreme, a surreal dream sequence (mocked up as a Hogans? Heroes scene) dramatises Crane?s vacillation between family and folly. Maybe the whole enterprise would work better as a straight documentary or docu-drama. Greg Kinnear does well as Crane. Willem Dafoe is genuinely creepy as the depraved sidekick who lines up the loose ladies for him. The period pieces are stylish, especially the hippie pool-party up in the LA hills. Auto Focus comes home strongly, cranking up the dramatic intensity as Crane?s life and career unravel. I would still say that Schrader is too good for the material. This doesn?t compare with his superb adaptation of the Russell Banks novel Affliction. … Expand
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  5. AaronL.
    Nov 18, 2002
    7
    While the film is interesting, well acted, and nicely directed, it fails to really dig into the psyche of Bob Crane and attempt to show us possibly why this proclaimed "good guy" got involved in this type of addiction. The script just scratches the surface and doesn't dig as deep as it should. I felt by the end that I knew more about Carpy (Dafoe) than about Crane. Instead of creating a portrait of a troubled man, Schrader settles for an above average HBO flick. … Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 36
  3. Negative: 2 out of 36
  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    63
    When the bloody climax comes, we look on apathetically, as desensitized to the violence as a pornographer is to sex.
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  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    90
    In Auto Focus, the strangely wonderful and weirdly touching new film from Paul Schrader, the comedy and the tragedy keep getting mixed up.
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  3. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    80
    Certainly the movie is one of Schrader's most accomplished, and most entertaining, but there's something cold and unforgiving about his vision, delivered with a severity that only a bred-in-the-bone Calvinist could muster.
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