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Joe Gould's Secret
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Joseph Mitchell (books Professor Seagull and Joe Gould's Secret)
Howard A. Rodman
Directed by: Stanley Tucci
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 7, 2000
DVD: September 26, 2000
Running Time: 104 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for some language and brief nudity
Starring Ian Holm, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Hope Davis, Steve Martin, and Susan Sarandon
Filmmaker Stanley Tucci takes viewers into the poignant and sometimes humorous world of New York City in the 1940s. This is the true story of two men, one of whom would tell the other's story: famed "The New Yorker" writer Joseph Mitchell and New York bohemian Joe Gould. (USA Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
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...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A delicate yet haunting movie, a meditation on friendship, on the roots of bohemianism, on the sad comedy of madness.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly F. X. Feeney
The alchemy of good acting under the pressure of sublime film sense makes for a miracle in the hearts of the audience.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There is anguish here that makes "American Beauty" pale by comparison.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Edvins Beitiks
Tucci and Holm brilliant as magazine writer and artist.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi
Tucci has crafted a poignant remembrance of a bygone era, and a touching examination of the responsibilities of creativity.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A series of subtly interlocking character studies.
Read Full Review >Film.com Robert Horton
A fitting tribute to an era, a writer, and an unapologetic eccentric.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
A vivid double portrait of the artistic sensibility in its many weathers -- expressed by two fine actors clearly engaged in a labor of love.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
An elegant, quietly comical but slightly constricted period piece whose stately pace is all but offset by several impressive performances.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Holm is dazzling as the grubby little misfit, just a little brilliant and a little insane.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Finely etched and acted but too often limpid and punchless in its impact.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
(Holm) nails one of the best roles of his career.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
A quietly ambitious, well-wrought, and tastefully poignant treatment of two local literary legends.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's a tall order that Tucci is not up to filling. But don't discount the pleasure of watching him try.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A gentle and often beautiful study in opposites.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Settles for being an atmospheric scenes-in-the-life biography of someone's most unforgettable character. It could have been so much more.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
There's a great story here, but Tucci's literate, civilized, wistful movie lacks savage impulse and refuses to show how mutual exploitation led to minor tragedy.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Chad S. gave it a 7:
"You can see your breath hanging in the air. You see homeless people but you just don't care," goes the politically incorrect song from "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut". Stan sings the truth. But in the movies, we care, since there's no muss or fuss when you're vicarious; besides, the hobo is jerry-rigged by the filmmaker to warm the cockles of our hearts. In "Joe Gould's Secret", Ian Holm, as Gould, creates a realistic hobo, a grating hobo, and our synthetic compassion gets used up. When Holm goes ballistic, we're begging for Tucci the director to cut away from this raving lunatic. Tucci the actor, as Joe Mitchell, remains sympathetic when he shirks Gould, because in real life, we wouldn't want our reclamation project to be clingy either. To offset Gould's tirades, we follow Holm looking for a place to sleep. Tucci wants us to remember this vagrant's humiliation when Gould is on his worst behavior. At the movies, we're all humanitarians, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone, knows that most of us "[won't] think twice," and that includes Phil Collins, too. "Joe Gould's Secret" recalls a less cynical time, when someone like Gould could trick people into believing that you can be a genius, and look like you need a bath.
