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Architect, The
Magnolia Pictures


3.5

based on 16 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 2 votes
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Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for language and some sexual content

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Hayden Panettiere, Sebastian Stan, Walton Goggins, and Paul James

A harrowing and ultimately human story of two very different families. Leo Waters (Lapaglia) is an idealistic architect and patriarch of an affluent, suburban Chicago family. Tonya Neeley (Davis) is a pragmatic activist who is trying to keep her family together while living in one of the city’s most drug and crime-infested public housing projects. As part of her ongoing campaign to have the projects torn down and decent housing built in its place, Tonya decides that the one signature she needs more than any other on her petition is that of the projects’ original architect, Leo Waters. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	David Greig Matt Tauber
DIRECTED BY:	Matt Tauber
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 5, 2006 Theatrical: December 1, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	81 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

Premiere Aaron Hillis

A riveting urban drama that tackles a myriad of sociopolitical issues -- conflicts of race, sex, class, marriage and politics -- without spreading itself thin.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

In her (Viola Davis) umpteenth turn as a strong ghetto mother, she is the life force that lifts Matt Tauber's workaday movie The Architect into an experience to savor.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a fairly well-written piece and an even better acted one. And these days, when independent films are increasingly the salvation of the serious American dramatic movie, it's heartening to see something like The Architect, which tries to reawaken a major American dramatic tradition and sometimes succeeds.

Boston Globe Michael Hardy

Perhaps urban-planning solutions are too much to expect from a Friday night at the movies, but in a film this ambitious, the evident lack of thought put into the problem is disappointing. As any architect knows, it's easier to tear down than to build up.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

There are too many characters undergoing life changes in the story for each to be properly developed in an 82-minute movie. But for the most part, the actors get the work done.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

LaPaglia and Davis deliver top-notch performances that go a long way toward offsetting the material's didacticism.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

While it provides a sometimes thoughtful examination of modern sociological issues, The Architect unfortunately succumbs to melodrama in its depiction of its troubled characters.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Despite an intriguing premise in which the architect of a housing project is confronted by a resident-turned-activist who wants his help in getting the place torn down, Matt Tauber's The Architect feels schematic and contrived.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Well-intentioned but obvious drama.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It's a compact and symmetrical picture with all its plot points in the right places, but I never found it convincing in the slightest.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Deteriorates from a potentially enlightening exploration of urban development and class conflict into a preposterous melodrama.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Every character in The Architect is crazily stuccoed with crisis.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The Architect wears its heavy social consciousness like an albatross, and Tauber's plodding, earnest direction does little to wean the material away from its stage roots.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

A movie designed without a proper foundation -- it feels as though it might crumble at any minute.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Though nothing much happens, all of the actors get to do lots of teary close-ups.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rit B gave it a4:
The Architect is like the framework of a building, something that looks like it has potential but which can’t be used until it is finished. The characters in this movie need to be fleshed out with more detail. Everyone is unhappy, everyone has a problem but it is never made clear as to why they are unhappy, and what caused their problems. The acting was decent but the story lacked cohesiveness and content.

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Architect, The Magnolia Pictures

Architect, The
Magnolia Pictures