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.
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 perilously close to a vanity film, but since the star has always seemed like one of the least vain guys in the business, maybe he deserves to go on a bender.
This comic drama unfolds with a fine eye for behavioral detail and a keen ear for deadpan irony and unvoiced heartache, particularly of the secular Jewish variety.
A movie like this depends on the close observation of behavior. It is not so much about what the characters do as who they are, who they fear they are, and who they want to be.
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.
Riegert is comfortable playing a character much like himself, but two moments lift his performance and the movie into higher territory.
Try to imagine Woody Allen mounting a production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and you'll have some idea of what King of the Corner is like.
Thanks to Riegert's obvious passion for the project, it succeeds even when individual scenes play like bits from an actors' workshop.
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.
We've seen the midlife-crisis comedy a hundred times before, but the smarts and the gentle wit of this one makes it a standout of the genre.
As a portrait of an average guy who makes average mistakes, it conveys wit and wisdom without leaning too heavily on schmaltz.
A modest film, and a messy one...about a modest, messy life...Reigert and Shapiro mine delicate humor from unpleasant situations.
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.
A pleasant comedy with plenty of heart and a cast that makes it worth the price of admission.
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