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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Business of Strangers, The
IFC Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong language and some sexuality
Starring
Stockard Channing,
Julia Stiles,
Fred Weller,
Mary Testa,
Jack Hallett,
and
Marcus Giamatti
A drama about a corporate climber (Channing) and her new assistant (Stiles) - stuck overnight in an airport hotel, locked in a subtle game of control and manipulation. (IFC Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Patrick Stettner
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Patrick Stettner
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 6, 2002
Video: August 6, 2002
Theatrical: December 7, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
84 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...
90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
A maliciously funny and keenly observant movie -- director-writer Patrick Stettner makes a potent feature debut -- that serves its humor dark and without artificial sweeteners.
88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
I'm not generally a huge fan of movies with two-or three-person casts -- they tend to resemble filmed plays -- but The Business of Strangers is a knockout.
83
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
Intriguingly puts two distinct, strong women together as if to pose the question, just what is a strong woman? By the film's end, that question is tough to answer.
80
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
Looking back at the film, I don't buy all this, but no matter; Channing is so stormy, so keen to unleash her resentments, that for an hour or so you do believe in Julie. [17 Dec 2001, p.98]
80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Mr. Stettner has a serious subject here -- how the hurts that women suffer at the hands of men can be internalized more deeply than the victims know -- and his film is graced with a stunning performance by Ms. Channing.
80
Variety
David Rooney
While it could have used a punchier final act that distilled its themes more cogently and conclusively, this intelligently scripted drama about power and its many channels nonetheless delivers thanks to Stettner's stylish visual sense and, most of all, to the smart, commanding performances of leads Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.
80
New Times (L.A.)
Bill Gallo
It's a pleasure to watch these two superb actresses circle and attack, conspire and conflict in the corporate shark tank, and it's just as profound a pleasure to behold a talented new filmmaker who's managed to succeed his first time out.
80
Film Threat
Rich Cline
This is a stunning examination of issues of doubt and control, as well as a cracking good little thriller.
80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
With an intensity that few movies have mustered, The Business of Strangers makes you feel the acute loneliness of it all.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Crisp and provocative, and no small amount of its pleasure derives from Channing's dazzling performance.
80
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
The dynamic between Channing and Stiles is as compelling as a freeway wreck.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It's a good movie, and Channing and Stiles are the right choices for these roles. They zero in on each other like heat-seeking missiles.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Incorporates a range of genres -- black comedy, thriller, psychological drama -- and emerges more powerful for it.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Stettner approaches this material with a playwright's incisiveness and structural sense. His dialogue is cutting, often surprising.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
In The Business of Strangers the right words are hard to come by, but the truth of them -- and the lies -- cut to the quick.
70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The film raises many interesting questions about our own responses, but it may finally be too open-ended for its own good.
70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
After an hour of brilliant, bitchy dialogue and deceit, it simply runs out of energy; or possibly the budget ran out.
70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
One is left with an unsettling ambivalence about the night's awful events -- there are no absolute villains here, just as there are no total victims -- and much of the credit is due to the performances.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
None of this detracts, however, from the terrific piss-and-merlot performances of Channing and Stiles, or from the committed participation of Frederick Weller as a Neil LaBute-era businessman caught in the lounge between two she-devils disguised as businesswomen.
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Plays largely like a performer's showpiece, with all the showboating and not so surprising character twists that entails, but Stettner comes out the other end with a pleasantly modest and satisfying revelation.
63
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Isn't much more than ''Baise-Moi'' in business suits as they deconstruct sisterhood with an expense account, but their duets sizzle.
63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Even though The Business of Strangers loses its nerve in the third act -- you'll wish Stettner had dared to push things further.
63
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
You know the line about paying to hear a great actor read a phonebook? I'd pay to see Channing just leaf through one.
63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
This is a movie that really has little to offer but performances and ideas. For a while, that's enough.
60
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
The Business of Strangers goes too far in dramatizing Julie's primal, Paula-fied surge of female fury, and the script finally mistakes respectful ambiguity for vaporous drift.
50
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
Stettner's vision of both women lacks fullness, relying on stereotypes of feminine strength and vulnerability.
50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Try to imagine "In the Company of Men" with a feminist twist and you'll have the gist of this fervently acted, ultimately unconvincing drama.
50
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Channing's formidably good -- a career woman in extremis -- but the movie, which was written and directed by Patrick Stettner, otherwise unfortunately resembles a product of the Neil LaBute Finishing School.
50
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
A claustrophobic psychodrama.
50
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Stettner must be one of the luckiest and unluckiest debut directors in years, blessed with actors who both take the focus away from his limitations and wind up shining a spotlight on them.
 The average user rating for this movie is 4.4 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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Chad S. gave it a 7:
