| 83 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The most pure of Mamet's works to come to the screen.
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| 80 |
The New York Times
Mr. Mantegna, who as an actor is one of the leading interpreters of Mr. Mamet's work, gives generous room to the movie's first-rate ensemble.
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| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
A must-see for Mamet fans.
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| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Mantegna gives us just enough detail, enough exterior shots, so that we feel we're on a ship. All the rest is conversation and idleness. The lake boat is a lot like life.
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| 75 |
Portland Oregonian
It works for the most part, though some scenes come off contrived or directed without flavor. But thanks to the likable, rough-hewn crew and Forster, the film flows along gruffly and with eloquence.
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| 70 |
New Times (L.A.)
Forster is the reason that even non-Mamet-heads might consider giving Lakeboat a shot. It's worth it just to see him in his long one-take exchange with Johnston about booze, but he's remarkable throughout.
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| 70 |
Film Threat
Beautiful moments of performance such as Forster's subtly spellbinding monologues -- make for compelling cinema.
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| 70 |
LA Weekly
Mamet's fixation on language is, nonetheless, more effective onstage than onscreen, where the technical and visual requirements distract from the sounds of the words -- the heart of Mamet's work.
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| 63 |
Boston Globe
Feels a bit flat and underdeveloped.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Though Mantegna can't quite lick the essential staginess of Mamet's adaptation of his play, even with lots of scenic shots of Lake Ontario, the performances are what one would expect with such a consummate actor in charge.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
Students of acting will appreciate the relish with which the characters bite off juicy chunks of dialogue.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
Forster not only makes this unlikely story emotionally believable, he moves you to tears. Lakeboat isn't much of a film, but for Forster fans, it's indispensable.
|
| 60 |
Rolling Stone
Brought to the screen awkwardly but ardently by Mamet-actor supreme Joe Mantegna in his feature-directing debut.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Lakeboat requires its audiences to embrace it as lovingly as Mamet and Mantegna embrace its men, but it's a lot to ask.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
Film feels like a parody of Mamet mannerisms, and the trouble lies with the play, which Mamet first penned some 25 years for an Actors Equity showcase.
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| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Though this film shows flashes of the electric writer Mamet was to become, Lakeboat is mostly distant thunder over choppy waters.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
The most striking thing here is a performance by Robert Forster, as one of the older men on the boat, that's so terrific everything else in the picture pales beside it.
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| 30 |
Variety
So fractured and so awkwardly staged that end result is an uninvolving film that’s dramatically inert and artistically shapeless.
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