ramsri007
For starters, I cannot fathom why Downey accepted this role of Clyde Pell, a private detective. Granted, those were troubled times for him on a personal front but roles like this do no justice to his immense active gift. This movie, although being claimed as a thriller, does not give you a feel of one. The story is about how a lawyer, who has everything going for him, is played by an unassuming woman into taking his case. From there on his life turns upside down. The story is about how he gets out of this mess and pieces it back again. A lot more could have been done to make it interesting and gripping but the movie shows the lack of direction & interest.
gridoon2018
Robert Altman was one of the most famous, respected and prolific American directors; I have yet to see a lot of his output, but "Short Cuts" is one of my all-time favorite movies. Sometimes, however, he took on film projects as a hired hand, and "The Gingerbread Man" is clearly one of those cases. Obvious (at least as far as its most important twist is concerned), unconvincing (Kenneth Branagh is ludicrously - and doubly - miscast: as a Southerner, and as a ladies' man, Embeth Davidtz's femme fatale lacks magnetism and Robert Duvall's character is more like a cartoon with that hair), overlong (nearly 2 hours) and mostly dull, this is probably not a high point in Altman's career. At least he cranks up the luridness to an entertaining degree in the last 10 minutes or so. ** out of 4.
MikeMagi
How bad can a movie directed by Robert Altman from a John Grisham story starring Kenneth Branagh, Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall be? Surprisingly bad. Grisham's tale of a cocky southern lawyer, the disturbed waitress he beds and her nutcase father requires a filmmaker with a sharp sense of storytelling, the ability to make a twisted murder mystery make sense. That ain't Altman. He's at his best ambling through a yarn, whimsically viewing it through a skewed lens. The performances are all first-rate. But by the climax, as the characters race through a raging hurricane, you can't tell who's doing what to whom and whether it's worth killing for. Worse yet, you don't really care.
kpw-5
How a director of Altman's experience could ever expect us to want to spend time with, or to care about what happens to, a lead character who is neurotic, a whiner, a jerk with no redeeming qualities -- that is the central puzzle about this profoundly confused piece of work. A monstrous piece of trash. In addition to this crippling flaw, the plot line requires serious concentration to follow. The setup that the Branagh character walks into is so obviously a setup from the start that we are inclined to wonder whether the writer and director have totally lost respect for their audience. This latter issue is at the core of the film: it represents directorial self-indulgence with profound contempt for the taste, values, and intelligence of the viewer. Very unusual for Mr. Altman.Patrick Watson
AD
