Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

  • Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Aiken, Parker Posey
  • Summary: Writer-director Hal Hartley returns to the characters from "Henry Fool," following Fay, a single mom from Queens who is afraid her 14 year old son will grow up to be like his father, Henry, who has been missing for years. (Magnolia Pictures)
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. 83
    Plotwise, the film seems actually designed to repel logic, almost a parody of a spy film. But it's played with such verve and dash and confident flair that you'll have a grand time.
  2. You won't see another film like Fay Grim this year, and we should give Hartley credit for making it work on his own terms.
  3. It's a rich idea -- a Hartley-esque variation on the theme of American Innocents Abroad. And it works superbly until -- well, Grim's the word.
  4. Too hip to play it straight and too cool to resort to an actual story, Hartley turns the whole rambling spy game into a puzzle box where every certainty is thrown into doubt, every character has a hidden motive, and every clue is contradicted.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. RitterS.
    8
    Briefly, I also really like this film- or should I say I am one of the few it seems that did . The imbalance of the whole project (drama and/or farce,) appealed to me. But I recommended it to 3 people and they unanimously hated it. Hated. The acting is extraordinarily uneven but PP and GB are stellar, with good support from JU, LA and SB. I've added it to my watch once a year list. Expand
  2. GL
    8
    This film got a bad wrap. Not as good as Henry Fool or the PowerBook, but nonetheless clever, witty, and visually fresh.
  3. IanI.
    5
    LOL @ the camera angles. There was literally not a single level frame in the entire film...I can get artsy camera angle choices...but when the same 45% angle is repeated with every frame it stops being a creative choice and starts being annoying. Expand
  4. BrookE.
    1
    I'm a HH fan but this film was dreadful, from its convoluted plot to its incessant Dutch camera angles. I prayed for it to end, since I saw it with friends at Sundance and I couldn't walk out easily. Expand

See all 5 User Reviews

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