An American Affair 2008

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies: Start to finish, [the film] makes absolutely no sense. Read more

Dan Zak, Washington Post: An earnest, fictional coming-of-age story is squeezed from a bitter, true-life local tragedy. And it works. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The reason to see An American Affair is Gretchen Mol. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This is not, by any reasonable definition of the term, a professional film, even though several experienced and established actors have been inveigled to inhabit it Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: There are scenes that work here and there, but regrettably not nearly enough to hold the film together. In the end, this affair is definitely not one to remember. Read more

MaryAnn Johanson, Film.com: It's all presented so earnestly... that you barely realize at the time how preposterous it all is. Intrigue! Cubans! The Bay of Pigs! JFK! It's the coming-of-age tale filtered through the mind of Oliver Stone, Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's a good rule of thumb that any film that grandly puts "American" in its title is going to try to make some statements way beyond its pay grade. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: If you can get past the exploitation-of-minors thing, there's a tawdry exuberance to moments like the one in which the twerp and his overage girlfriend drunkenly splash paint on each other. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Sketchily written, clumsily directed and poorly acted, even history-conspiracy aficionados will be left cold. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Even Oliver Stone would giggle. Read more

Alison Willmore, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The title sums up the bland, unimaginative and cliche-laden thriller/coming-of-age tale. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: The Cuban Missile Crisis is a year passed and the assassination is looming, and yet Adam's pubescent crises are given Wagnerian emphasis. Read more

Vadim Rizov, Village Voice: Only Noah Wyle, as Adam's unreadable dad, rises above the muck; he deserves his Tarantino-aided resurrection sooner rather than later. Read more