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Canada, United States · 2005
Rated R · 1h 52m
Director Griffin Dunne
Starring Diane Lane, Anton Yelchin, Donald Sutherland, Chris Evans
Genre Drama, Thriller
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A teenage boy, tired of the bohemian lifestyle his single mother leads, gets a glimpse into the life of the one percent when his mother is hired as the personal masseuse to an elderly New Jersey millionaire.
The idea that rich people are an alien tribe is just one of many that get lost in Wittenborn’s distracted script. Instead of exploring the concept, he throws out random incidents until he hits one that sends the film into a dark, grotesque spiral.
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
What might have read as a dense allegory comparing the rituals of the super-rich with the tribal customs of the violent Ishkanani tribe in the Amazon becomes a tedious, over-ripe soap opera on screen.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
The film is worthwhile primarily for the fun, breezy first hour. After that, it's a case of watching to find out how things turn out.
Not even the always reliable Diane Lane can save this one.
Director Griffin Dunne's adaptation of Dirk Wittenborn's fiercely personal novel ambles pleasantly through coming-of-age movie territory, then takes a jarring Agatha Christie detour.
Whenever Sutherland comes on scene, any inadequacies in the film's depiction of the well-to-do become irrelevant.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
When F. Scott Fitzgerald remarked that the rich “are different from you and me,” he might have been thinking of someone like the moody billionaire from Fierce People.
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