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King Of The Corner (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:28
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Riegert makes this low-key, rueful comedy about mid-life angst appealing.
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Actor Peter Riegert stars, directs, and co-wrote the mid-life crisis comedy KING OF THE CORNER. Riegert plays Leo Spivak, whose middle-class existence slowly seems to be unraveling at the seams, as... Actor Peter Riegert stars, directs, and co-wrote the mid-life crisis comedy KING OF THE CORNER. Riegert plays Leo Spivak, whose middle-class existence slowly seems to be unraveling at the seams, as his father (Eli Wallach) is dying, his wife Rachel (Isabella Rossellini) is fed up with Leo's behavior, his A-student daughter starts dating a loser, and his protégé starts gunning for his job. Feeling assaulted on all sides, Leo feels like he has nowhere to turn, until an unorthodox "freelance Rabbi" (Eric Bogosian) tries to help him set things straight. KING OF THE CORNER is a feel-good independent comedy-drama that sets out to explore characters and presents its fine cast with many opportunities to do so. It is based on the short stories of Gerald Shapiro. [More]
Starring: Peter Riegert, Isabella Rossellini, Dominic Chianese, Eric Bogosian
Starring: Peter Riegert, Isabella Rossellini, Dominic Chianese, Eric Bogosian, Rita Moreno, Beverly D'Angelo, Jake Hoffman, Eli Wallach, Harris Yulin, Frank Wood, Ashley Johnson, Peter Friedman
Director: Peter Riegert
Director: Peter Riegert
Reviews for King Of The Corner
This is a story about the benefits of just showing up. Even at its most sentimental, Riegert's pet project possesses a lived-in integrity that nearly offsets the staleness of the material.
With scenes that just sort of pile up, words hanging in the air, and humiliations that are never for a greater good (or bad), Riegert keeps us always at a safe distance.
It's a warm, unexpectedly moving portrait of a man on the verge of what could either be a dreadful or delightful second chapter.
The marketing focus groups, product testing, and even a pre-planning visit to the funeral home provide a lot of laughs, but then you get little surprises.
Riegert doesn't pretend to have answers, but he does have a unique point of view and the sort of rueful humor you need if you're going to make it through a lifetime's worth of difficulties.
The pic is amiable, kinda charming, visually routine, and incisive in individual sequences.
There's something not quite right when you sense a movie is unraveling in front of you and you're not certain what, exactly, is coming unraveled.
I've never quite figured out what the poker-faced Peter Riegert does as an actor, but his matter-of-fact minimalism is always funny and affecting.
Amusing, but not the sort of transcendent human comedy that it wants to be. It is, instead, a middling one, certainly watchable but by no means special.
Although Riegert, who has here assembled a first-rate cast, clearly has a good touch with actors, his handling of the awkward material reveals his directorial inexperience.
Despite a tendency to ramble and some uncomfortable shifts of tone, overall the picture generates a quiet humor and warmth that are quite appealing.
Look up the word 'slight' in the dictionary and you could find a still from this film.
As a portrait of an average guy who makes average mistakes, it conveys wit and wisdom without leaning too heavily on schmaltz.
King of the Corner has a fine cast, some funny lines and situations and good cinematography by Mauricio Rubinstein, but no originality or profundity, nor a real point other than, perhaps, count your blessings. But maybe that's sufficient.
An engaging character study that is carried by its talented performers.
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