| 100 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Manny Lewis
Ultimately, the movie is about finding contentment during tough times.
|
| 80 |
Village Voice
Ella Taylor
Rudd is sweet and funny; Ron Eldard and Josh Hamilton are great as the town's aimless stud muffin and philosophizing pothead, respectively. But the movie belongs to Ken Marino, who is riotously funny.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
A quintessential American independent movie, Diggers isn't going to change the history of cinema. But it has integrity. It feels like life.
|
| 75 |
TV Guide
Likably low-key, character-driven dramatic comedy.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
What separates Diggers from its kin - notably the Ed Burns movies - is the testosterone balance of its masculine script and Dieckmann's sensitive direction. Maybe we need more buddy movies by women.
|
| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
This seriously funny group portrait of third-generation clam diggers (and their wives and sisters) is fresh as today's catch and about as tasty. Its '70s soundtrack positively swaggers.
|
| 75 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
As befits a heartfelt ode to working-class values, Diggers puts in lots of hard, honest work that finally pays off in a wholly predictable yet unexpectedly moving conclusion.
|
| 70 |
Chicago Reader
Ken Marino, who plays the silliest of the diggers, wrote the script, and when it isn't straining after elegiac moments, it's fresh and unpredictable.
|
| 70 |
Los Angeles Times
Archetypal characters and somewhat formulaic plot notwithstanding, Diggers has the conviction to avoid tying things up with a bow and allows us the privilege to imagine where its denizens will go afterward.
|
| 70 |
Variety
Basically "Diner" in wading boots, it feels very familiar in conceit and unadventurous in execution, but offers the undeniable pleasures of a well-observed, well-played modest seriocomedy.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Tribune
The best thing in Diggers, besides the close-up of the back end of the Vista Cruiser, is the interplay between Rudd and Tierney. They really do seem like brother and sister, adults yet not entirely grown up.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
The movie is strong and holding as long as it's shambling about in the Montauk dusk; when Dieckmann has to bring things to a resolution, Diggers turns ordinary -- sweet, but you've seen it many times before.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Ken Marino of "Dawson's Creek," who wrote the somewhat autobiographical script, plays one of Rudd's pals.
|
| 58 |
Christian Science Monitor
Overall, Diggers is like an Ed Burns movie -- but with fishing gear.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
Never quite breaks out of its talky inertia.
|
| 50 |
Film Threat
Diggers isn't a bad film, but the underlying premise - the longing one feels to escape from a dead-end, small town life - has been so beaten to death in the movies that no amount of accurate 70s design or subtlety in the performances can hide the fact.
|
| 50 |
Premiere
This tale has been told so often (in fact, its roots can be traced back to Fellini's 1953 coming-of-age classic "I Vitelloni") the only way to keep it remotely fresh is to keep changing the time period and the professions of the principal characters.
|
| 25 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Sitting through Diggers is so tedious that you might find yourself envying the clam diggers. At least they get to be outdoors.
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