Lakeboat

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The most pure of Mamet's works to come to the screen.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Mr. Mantegna, who as an actor is one of the leading interpreters of Mr. Mamet's work, gives generous room to the movie's first-rate ensemble.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A must-see for Mamet fans.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Mantegna gives us just enough detail, enough exterior shots, so that we feel we're on a ship. All the rest is conversation and idleness. The lake boat is a lot like life.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

It works for the most part, though some scenes come off contrived or directed without flavor. But thanks to the likable, rough-hewn crew and Forster, the film flows along gruffly and with eloquence.

New Times (L.A.) M.V. Moorhead

Forster is the reason that even non-Mamet-heads might consider giving Lakeboat a shot. It's worth it just to see him in his long one-take exchange with Johnston about booze, but he's remarkable throughout.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Beautiful moments of performance such as Forster's subtly spellbinding monologues -- make for compelling cinema.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Mamet's fixation on language is, nonetheless, more effective onstage than onscreen, where the technical and visual requirements distract from the sounds of the words -- the heart of Mamet's work.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Feels a bit flat and underdeveloped.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Though Mantegna can't quite lick the essential staginess of Mamet's adaptation of his play, even with lots of scenic shots of Lake Ontario, the performances are what one would expect with such a consummate actor in charge.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Students of acting will appreciate the relish with which the characters bite off juicy chunks of dialogue.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Forster not only makes this unlikely story emotionally believable, he moves you to tears. Lakeboat isn't much of a film, but for Forster fans, it's indispensable.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Brought to the screen awkwardly but ardently by Mamet-actor supreme Joe Mantegna in his feature-directing debut.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Lakeboat requires its audiences to embrace it as lovingly as Mamet and Mantegna embrace its men, but it's a lot to ask.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Film feels like a parody of Mamet mannerisms, and the trouble lies with the play, which Mamet first penned some 25 years for an Actors Equity showcase.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

Though this film shows flashes of the electric writer Mamet was to become, Lakeboat is mostly distant thunder over choppy waters.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The most striking thing here is a performance by Robert Forster, as one of the older men on the boat, that's so terrific everything else in the picture pales beside it.

Variety Emanuel Levy

So fractured and so awkwardly staged that end result is an uninvolving film that’s dramatically inert and artistically shapeless.