The Forger 2014

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: John Travolta wearily plays a master art forger who undertakes the proverbial "one last job" for the benefit of his dying son in Philip Martin's soggy, strictly by-the-numbers crime thriller. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Nothing feels fresh here - not even Christopher Plummer hamming it up as a crusty-coot grandpa - and Philip Martin's routinely polished direction only underscores the cliche-composting of Richard D'Ovidio's script. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Nicolas Cage at least manages to bring the occasional jolt of electricity to disposable genre tripe like this. Travolta is practically comatose. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: Scenes generally feel underdeveloped, and transitions abrupt. A suspicion grows that this is one movie that would have fared better as miniseries. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: The art-heist plot is pretty by-the-numbers, but Travolta nearly saves it with his doomed air of paternal helplessness. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: A contrived thriller that wraps a gritty Boston milieu redolent of a Dennis Lehane story around a sentimental heart, with a high-stakes art heist that belongs in a more robustly plotted Hollywood studio picture. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: In attempting to spin out its competing storylines, the crime drama "The Forger" never quite gets a handle on either one. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Travolta's face looks immobile, while Plummer and Jennifer Ehle, as Cutter's estranged, strung-out wife, look out of place. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Travolta teeters between tough-guy menace and soulful, artistic intensity, but you don't ever believe that he can paint or that he can beat up a whole squad of younger, bigger, meaner dudes. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: What is happening! If you check out "The Forger," you might well find yourself saying that time and again, as the entertainingly terrible performances keep piling up while the plot dares you not to chuckle at the audacity of it all. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: As the film's title suggests, there is something inauthentic about it all. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Occasionally a movie comes along that's such an awkward compilation of ideas it fascinates: The Forger, a Boston-set melodrama involving cancer, Impressionist art and deadbeat dads, is only about half that good. Read more

Martin Knelman, Toronto Star: This limply directed tale emerges as a case study of an all too familiar type of art crime: the making of bad movies. Read more

Liz Braun, Toronto Sun: The movie is miscast and predictable, but it's not entirely without merit. Read more

Chris Packham, Village Voice: John Travolta's Raymond Cutter doesn't forge anything during the first 40 minutes of The Forger, unless we can count his unconvincing, age-inappropriate mane of hair. Read more