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The Assassination of Richard Nixon
User Score
8.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 20 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 20
  3. Negative: 2 out of 20

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  1. VinceH.
    Apr 28, 2005
    9
    Sean Penn is absoultely amazing in this movie. Yes this is a very well-made and intelligent study of the interior life of a tortude man, and a good one at that. But it is Penn who lifts this above an average and pretentious art film. This is a far more powerful and affecting a performance than either Mystic River or 21 Grams. Get the movie for his acting alone.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. JulieL.
    Jun 10, 2005
    9
    Not a film for people who want to be coddled and spoon-fed. A thinkers' film, with an absolutely rivteing (you can't take your eyes off him) performance by Sean Penn.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JeffM.
    Aug 17, 2006
    8
    Very interesting. Penn really makes you feel for this poor bastard, but still never makes him remotely likeable. Very high degree of difficulty on that one.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. TerryM.
    Jan 20, 2005
    10
    The style was that of an indie on the cheap, yet it perfectly fit the subject matter. The lighting was non-existent, the shooting was shaky and the whole feel was chilly and depressing, a perfect analogy to the central character's state of mind.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. garyl.
    Apr 8, 2005
    10
    Best film (and best performance by Penn) of the year. By a long shot the most affecting film I've seen in the last year or two.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. LeeH
    May 1, 2005
    5
    Unrelentingly grim- had to turn it off about half-way- was too 'preachy'. Thought Penn's character was monotonic- like in 'one note'.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. GregT.
    May 2, 2005
    2
    Sean Penn is a great actor who bored and annoyed me to tears in this movie. What is the purpose of movie making today? Is it to provide a platform for accomplished actors to portray the difficult role of anti-hero? If so then this movie accomplished this. Steven M. who posted a review below was right on. This movie protrays an individual whom you don't like, and over whom you are not concerned and with whom you are not engaged. Movies currently are often now venues for actors and screenwriters to explore their genres with no acknowledgement of the audience at all, with no resolution, with no characters that one could even remotely relate to, with no real plot nor with any investment in the viewer. You are not involved in this movies, you simply observe them.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. Myles#13
    Sep 8, 2006
    8
    Note to future viewers: if you don't like thinking during movies, do NOT rent 'Assassination'. Sean Penn's performance is meant to make the average person realize the often meaningless-ness of their existence. 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon' played like a modern day 'Death of a Salesman'... in both, the lead character becomes quite disillusioned with their meager existence, and takes drastic measures. Good movie!… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. KenG
    Jan 22, 2005
    8
    Intriguing portrait of a man going from loser to madness, with excellent performance by Penn.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. MarkB.
    Feb 3, 2005
    8
    It would be perfectly natural to walk into this highly fictionalized supposition of the miserable life of Sam Byck (spelled Bicke in the movie), who did indeed attempt a bizarre, inevitably futile attck on President Nixon in 1974, as a parallel commentary on the growing resentment of Americans disenfranchised by the policies (and apparent invincibility) of the current Chief Executive--especially considering Sean Penn's involvement in the project. Perfectly natural, yes...but completely wrong. I think poster Steven M. has a point, even though I obviously regarded the film much higher than he did; Bicke's personal failures and growing psychosis are so deeply rooted within himself that he would inevitably have exploded no matter who was in the White House. It's just as easy to see Bicke endlessly watching the wall-to-wall TV coverage of the legal and ethical tribulations of another highly controversial U. S. President: Bicke's frustrations over his inability to keep his marriage together could find expression in revenge against a certain politician for being able to commit numerous infidelities and STILL keep his wife, and the film would play just as well as The Assassination of Bill Clinton. There's no question that Bicke's take on reality, which is pretty tenuous at the outset, becomes completely nonexistent by the time he commits his signature act. Not only does he have a hugely distorted perspective on how he comes across in interview situations (which, of course, is absolutely fatal in his profession as a salesman) but he's unable to recall whether he and his wife have been seperated for one year or two, and he endlessly rants about her cocktail waitress uniform, which is silly but rather modest by 2004 OR 1974 standards...especially if you saw actress Naomi Watts's wardrobe in I Heart Huckabees! Yet Bicke, as flawlessly played by Penn, is still a deeply tragic figure. With all his flaws, this failed appliance salesman is still a far better, infinitely more decent human being than his swinish, hypocritical boss (played with perfect piggishness by Jack Thompson). I mean, I've read the Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale books discussed in the movie that were bibles of salesmanship in those days, and nowhere but nowhere did Carnegie or Peale ever advocate using their techniques to lie to or cheat people. Much has been made of this film's apparently deliberate parallels to Taxi Driver (down to the respelling of the protagonist's name) minus the ironic third-act slaughterfest that transformed Martin Scorsese's seminal classic from a moody art film to a dependable second feature at inner-city "action houses" and drive-ins in the late 1970s. I'm more inclined to compare director Niels Mueller's work to that of Todd Solondz; like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, Assassination is often very darkly funny but just as often (and I think, intentionally) so uncomfortable to watch that you want it to have a shorter running time than it does. Solondz's misfit heroines Dawn in Dollhouse and Joy in Happiness are heartbreaking because they endure abuse after abuse which they more or less passively undergo; Bicke, being male, attempts time after time to overcome until he totally, irreparably breaks. I know this wasn't really Solondz's intention, and I'm not sure it's Mueller's, but my emotional response to all three films is to treat everybody I know with greater kindness: the geeky, uncoordinated coworker; the loud, overbearing neighbor; the odd, awkward stranger I share a sidewalk or a bus with. Who knows? As Assassination vividly demonstrates, doing so could actually end up saving a few lives I don't even know about!… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. StevenM.
    Jan 23, 2005
    3
    Barring the excruciatingly naive overreach of those prone to over philosophize; this movie's main character was simply a pathetic, inept, whining, sociopath who found fault in everone but himself.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. JustinL.
    Feb 12, 2005
    9
    Intriguing and disturbing portrait of an already insane man falling deeper and deeper into the depths of his altered perception of the world around him. Although, Penn does seem to play the same character (disturbed man) in a lot of his movies, the compelling performance in this film made it stand out and well worth watching.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 38
  3. Negative: 1 out of 38
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    50
    Penn's magnetism and hesitant line delivery create what interest there is, although the whole picture suffers from a central figure who can never get it together on any level.
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  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    63
    This is another movie where politics trump the narrative.
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  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    50
    Penn is mostly in "I Am Sam mode" here, doing a lot of shoe-gazing and mumbly-talk, but not without adding an edge of bitter intelligence to his character; he's just too good an actor to merely repeat himself, even when the material encourages him to.
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