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King of the Corner
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 15
  3. Negative: 1 out of 15
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    King of the Corner is not plot-driven. It's like life: just one damned thing after another
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    A witty and wise midlife comedy, not only represents Peter Riegert's debut as a feature director but gives this gifted veteran performer his juiciest big-screen role in quite some time.
  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    70
    A warm, unexpectedly moving portrait of a man on the verge of what could either be a dreadful or delightful second chapter.
  4. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Allison Benedikt
    63
    Moments of this film reminded me of Alexander Payne's great library of male dysfunction -- "Election," "About Schmidt," "Sideways" -- not because King of the Corner actually reaches Payne's plane, but because I wish it had tried.
  5. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jason Anderson
    63
    The mild but affable story of an ad man's midlife crisis, King of the Corner is an actor's film in every way.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    60
    I've never quite figured out what the poker-faced Peter Riegert does as an actor, but his matter-of-fact minimalism is always funny and affecting.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    60
    Warm and wise comedy of middle-age malaise.
  8. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Joshua Katzmann
    60
    Riegert and his cowriter, Gerald Shapiro, breathe some fresh air into the material with their credible characters.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    50
    King of the Corner has been adapted from Gerald Shapiro's "Bad Jews and Other Stories" and suffers from an odd, disjointed quality.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    It's all pleasant but fairly unimportant, and then -- POW -- comes the great scene, almost out of nowhere.
  11. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    50
    Peter Riegert's is a labor of love film where you feel love much stronger than you feel the film.
  12. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Akiva Gottlieb
    50
    An average film starring an average character actor, but maybe that's the point. This is a story about the benefits of just showing up. Even at its most sentimental, Riegert's pet project possesses a lived-in integrity that nearly offsets the staleness of the material.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    50
    Lacks the stylistic attention to psychological distress that might have lent it maximum impact. Instead, the pic is amiable, kinda charming, visually routine, and incisive in individual sequences.
  14. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Tasha Robinson
    40
    It's a low-key actor's showreel, harmless and toothless and sleepy. It'd go pretty well with a glass of warm milk.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    38
    But look up the word "slight" in the dictionary and you could find a still from this film.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. JayE.
    5
    With the exception of Jake Hoffman, who needs a lot more time in regional theater, even if Pops can get him Hollywood parts, the acting is first rate; and a couple of scenes (the opening, the hero's impromptu funeral oration) work nicely. But hasty under-editing quickly exposes an extraordinarily weak screenplay (appearing in person at the showing I watched, Peter Riegert refused to provide any explanation for the hero's gratuitous and cruel betrayal of a former high school crush). The lighting was terrible, the print grainy, the theme confused -- a drama whose comic relief was so heavy-handed and improbable, it descended into satire.The most lasting impression I took from this sincere effort: no matter how talented, one guy, with an ultra-low budget and some pals working for scale, cannot make a worthy feature film. Sadly, the distributors who turned Riegert down were right.… Full Review »
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