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AntiTrust
MGM

AntiTrust reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 31 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.5 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 14 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violence and brief language

Starring Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Claire Forlani

A relentless suspense thriller that enters the hidden world where the rich and the brilliant collide, where a handful of bright, driven young men and women have the means to make or break the technology that will dominate the global economy. (MGM)


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Howard Franklin  
DIRECTED BY: Peter Howitt  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 15, 2001 
Video: May 15, 2001 
Theatrical: January 12, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 119 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

63
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Becomes a very conventional suspense film, replete with virtually every cliche of the genre, some used more than once.
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63
USA Today Andy Seiler
Robbins' performance as Winston is the best thing in the movie.
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60
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
It is ultimately more routine than provocative, despite the timeliness and seriousness of the issues it raises.
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60
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
I do wish Mr. Robbins's one-note co-stars had been worthy of his performance, and that some of the melodramatics hadn't been quite so slapdash.
60
Village Voice Dennis Lim
It's a kick to see the Tim Robbins version of the man recently described by the Microsoft trial judge as "Napoleonic" installed in a disgustingly opulent Bond-villain HQ/pad, and the overwrought Boiler Room-meets-The Game scenario is not without its own schlocky pleasures.
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58
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's hooey, but it's hooey that picks up in the second half, not exactly redeeming itself but fitfully engaging.
50
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The plot of Antitrust is intricate and uneven, overloaded with twists and not very jolting surprises.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Ironically, the filmmakers seem to think the audience for this movie about super-smart people is super-dumb.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
While Robbins has a good time playing the boyish devil, the rest of the principals transmit on an awfully low baud rate.
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50
Boston Globe Jay Carr
An example of a film that begins with a provocative idea and then runs itself into the ground with clumsy structuring.
50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
They might have been able to make a nice little thriller out of Antitrust if they'd kept one eye on the Goofy Meter.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Taps into a fear hitherto unexplored by cinema: fear of Bill Gates.
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50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Silly but fairly harmless.
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50
Variety Joe Leydon
Robbins is such a live wire that he's able to jumpstart his co-stars whenever they're interfacing onscreen.
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38
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
An inferior factory product, cranked out with little care and less imagination, that seems all the dumber because it's pretending to be smart and topical.
38
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An unintentional high-tech hoot.
38
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Better than you might expect, if you didn't expect it to be any good.
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30
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Poops out before it ever really gets going.
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30
Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
This compression of logic--coupled with two hours of ham-fisted delivery--guarantees that Antitrust won't jangle your nerves but will intermittently split your sides with laughter.
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30
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
As a film, it essentially bites.
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25
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's phony and forced, but mostly it's just silly. If there was once a satirical edge to this thriller, it's been programmed right out.
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25
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A big techno-dud.
20
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A storyline that makes less sense than the current state of tech stocks on the Nasdaq.
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20
Film.com Ernest Hardy
A crap film that's steeped in liberal paranoia, but it's also so ludicrous that it falls under the guilty-pleasure category.
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20
Slate David Edelstein
Libel on one of the true visionaries of American business in the 20th century, a man unfairly demonized for doing what others strove to do but doing it faster and better.
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10
Washington Post Desson Thomson
It's too bad we don't have red, glowing DELETE buttons next to those soda cup holders. I could have done the world a favor.
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10
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
Antitrust is anti-fun, anti-wakefulness, and anti-interesting.
10
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Gives us good reason to believe that January really is the month Hollywood studios use to bury their cheesiest mistakes.
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0
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Monumentally silly thriller.

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Amurabi M. gave it a4:
For those who loved high-tech and the idea of a free-interchange-of-ideas-and-knowledge this could be the better film of the history. Bordering the limits between the libel and the propaganda, the provocative idea of a personal attack to bill gates and microsoft, doesn´t work totally. That attack coulda been work if the filmmakers get the wit to put that premise in a correct way of filmmaking. As a thriller, this movie is stupid and predictable, as a suspense is just the same. As a model of propaganda for liberals is just... right. But here, we are talking about films and nor about globaliphobia, so the film is just a piece of crap. Disappointingly, fails in to take a great issue (the freedom in the net) to the public and fails, miserably, in to make a decent film. Besides, we know that ryan phillippe doesn´t act and the Tim Robbins characterization of gates-the-evil is just... ridiculous.

Jeremy gave it a 4:
Slick enough to make it's brain dead and laughable screenplay barely watchable, but we can't say the same about Tim Robbins.

Rich B. gave it a 10:
This movie is really cool if you like computers. Reminds me a little of "The Firm".

Matt M. gave it a 1:
A wretchedly awful and tepid wannabe "thriller," "Antitrust" is filled with terribly incongruous performances and hackneyed plot developments. Absolutely HORRID film!!!

David G gave it a 7:
A good piece of entertainment. The story is a bit predictable, but you will enjoy it anyway. All the tech stuff is really beliveable.

Ryan M. gave it an 8:
A very smart and stylish thriller. Robbins and Phillipe make their characters real and believable. A cool hip summer movie.

Damian P. gave it a 7:
Unlike "Hackers," it really did get (glimpses) into the minds of computer programmers.

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