Fay Grim 2006

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Hal Hartley's Fay Grim strikes me as something of an elaborate mistake, a wasted opportunity and a script Hartley should have discarded. But I liked it anyway. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The final, tragically uncomprehending close-up of Posey is perfect in a way Hartley didn't intend. It mirrors our incomprehension at his loss of imagination. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The involved backstory and Hartley's own generic music both prove burdensome; the main attraction is the cast's amusing way of handling Hartley's mannerist dialogue and conceits. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Fay Grim makes giddy sense to a point, but Hartley seems trapped in a bubble of his own, failing to let us in on a joke that would be funnier if its punch line weren't so quirkily obscure. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: There's a thin line between goofing irreverently on the maddeningly convoluted nature of spy thrillers and actually being a muddled mess, and Fay Grim crosses it constantly during its deadly second hour. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Fay Grim falls victim to its own worried hyperactivity; it shuts you out with chattery paranoia. Hartley wants us to see the big picture, but he forgets we need artists like him to bring it into focus. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: This film feels like Hartley has been handed a Bourne or a Bond movie to direct and maintained his own style and low-budget aesthetic while thoroughly enjoying and deconstructing his new toy. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: For most of the way Fay Grim is a very dry slice of deadpan humor. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Fay Grim plays like a cadre of smug high-school drama students absolutely convinced everyone will be as amused by their antics as they are. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Part satire, part action flick and complete ball of confusion, it's hard to tell what director-writer Hal Hartley intends with this often-amateurish, often dull, always frustrating film. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The faux espionage plot, with its winks at terrorism, is really just a convoluted plea for the relevance of precious indie artistes (i.e., Hal Hartley). Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The more complicated it gets the less interesting it becomes; the joke is just overloaded, and at almost two hours, too long. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Fay Grim is a farce in which people die and lives are ruined. Which is to say, it's peculiarly funny, but you have to be an existentialist with lightning-fast reflexes to get all the jokes. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The unorthodoxy of the film is perhaps its biggest asset -- along with the idea that a personal cinema can still exist, be so entertaining and provide something new to feel about character -- and maybe even the universe. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: What lures the film into disaster, is that [director] Hartley lets slip his sense of humor (always his strongest asset) and begins to believe his own plot. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The feeling of the original film has been lost. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Hartley's work has always been an acquired taste. While Fay Grim is too uneven to win him many converts, it is laced with enough intelligence and wit to remind longtime fans why they were drawn to his unique vision in the first place. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Fay Grim is like watching stoners playing Risk and Clue at the same time. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Where Henry Fool was a resonant study of friendship, art, trust and politics, Fay Grim is just a throwaway joke. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Fay Grim is tortured in its attempt at cleverness, and plays endlessly. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: You won't see another film like Fay Grim this year, and we should give [Hal] Hartley credit for making it work on his own terms. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Movie sequels rarely work as well as literary serials, but the Henry and Fay movies have the ring of a satisfying trilogy in the making. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Recycling espionage-a-go-go conventions while namechecking global conflicts doesn't shed light on any state we're in; it just feels fatigued. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Despite its imperfections, Fay Grim is worth seeing for Posey's and Goldblum's performances and particularly for the witty, literate dialogue. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Instead of growing as an artist, [Hartley] seems to be treading water. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: With all manner of backstories and flashbacks jamming the road, the Posey-mobile starts to swerve and sputter and finally blows a tire. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Fay Grim sorely tests the tenacity of [Hal] Hartley's most zealous fans. Read more