Premiere by Aaron Hillis

A riveting urban drama that tackles a myriad of sociopolitical issues -- conflicts of race, sex, class, marriage and politics -- without spreading itself thin.

Village Voice by Ella Taylor

In her (Viola Davis) umpteenth turn as a strong ghetto mother, she is the life force that lifts Matt Tauber's workaday movie The Architect into an experience to savor.

Boston Globe by Michael Hardy

Perhaps urban-planning solutions are too much to expect from a Friday night at the movies, but in a film this ambitious, the evident lack of thought put into the problem is disappointing. As any architect knows, it's easier to tear down than to build up.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

It's a fairly well-written piece and an even better acted one. And these days, when independent films are increasingly the salvation of the serious American dramatic movie, it's heartening to see something like The Architect, which tries to reawaken a major American dramatic tradition and sometimes succeeds.

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

LaPaglia and Davis deliver top-notch performances that go a long way toward offsetting the material's didacticism.

New York Daily News by Jack Mathews

There are too many characters undergoing life changes in the story for each to be properly developed in an 82-minute movie. But for the most part, the actors get the work done.

The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck

While it provides a sometimes thoughtful examination of modern sociological issues, The Architect unfortunately succumbs to melodrama in its depiction of its troubled characters.

San Francisco Chronicle by Ruthe Stein

Still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

Deteriorates from a potentially enlightening exploration of urban development and class conflict into a preposterous melodrama.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

It's a compact and symmetrical picture with all its plot points in the right places, but I never found it convincing in the slightest.