Middle Men 2009

Critics score:
40 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, At the Movies: I never got the feeling Gallo and company figured out how to compress and focus their stories. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...the picture is never not engaging, and it certainly has its moments. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Gallo, for his part, is content to decorate a fairly conventional, intermittently entertaining crime chronicle with a bit of skin and a soupcon of pop sociology. There must be other ways to learn about pornography on the Internet. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: This inspired-by-a-true-story film about the birth of Internet porn is giddily sleazy, full of convincing crazies and criminals, as well as the scumbags and wannabes who surround them. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: [Wilson's] phenomenal performance as a family man undone by sexual and financial temptation is more than this movie deserves. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Take away the nudity and sleaze, and at its heart Middle Men is about billing. No wonder it needed all the jiggling. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: [A] frenetic jumble of subplots and sleazy characters... Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Is Jack, who is patterned on a real-life character, sociopathic or just plain clueless? Gallo doesn't seem to care. He cares about parading before us lowlifes living the high life. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Perhaps it's inevitable that this cranked-up drama wants it both ways. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: A colorful supporting cast gives this uneven Internet porn saga a potent boost. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Kind of a mess. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Gallo has the start of a good story here, but he can't find an original way to explore it. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: This very well-acted, often amusing and dirty-minded hard-R film still stands out in a sea of market-driven blandness. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This one's coming in under the radar. Keep an eye out...Best of all is Wilson, digging into his juiciest role in years. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A highly entertaining, flawed, ripped-off-and-reassembled carnival of sleaze. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Middle Men is an anxious film, but not in a good way, in that it doesn't generate suspense so much as dread. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Think Boogie Nights meets Casino, though it's not likely to make the lasting impression of either seminal film. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: Even without much character development, the compelling story holds, mostly due to Wilson. Read more