Metacritic Film

Taxman, The

Starring Joe Pantoliano, Wade Dominguez, Elizabeth Berkley, and Michael Chiklis

MPAA RATING: R for graphic violence and strong language

Phaedra Cinema
Suspense/Thriller
104 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters September 17, 1999

New York State Tax Investigator Al Benjamin (Pantoliano) infiltrates the Russian community of Brighton Beach, New York, to track down the con man who is running a tax fraud scheme.

WRITTEN BY
Roger H. Berger
Avi Nesher

DIRECTED BY
Avi Nesher

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

48 / 100

Critic Reviews

75 San Francisco Examiner
Shows how Tinseltown sensibilities can be well thought out even on a low budget.
70 The New York Times
An offbeat little charmer of a mystery.
63 New York Post Rod Dreher
An odd, unexpectedly interesting little movie.
50 TV Guide
This modest little moral thriller is a pleasant surprise.
50 LA Weekly
Writer-director Avi Nesher and co-screenwriter Roger Berger -- upon whose real-life investigations the film is based -- deliver on the hard-boiled promise of this low-key thriller with plenty of gritty twists and turns.
50 Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Has the hit-machine aura of something whipped together by L.A. studio execs over avocado sandwiches and banana smoothies.
38 New York Daily News
Brutal but somewhat endearing.
30 Village Voice Katherine Wolff
A wintertime crime caper that truly leaves you cold.

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