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Movies / On DVD / The Hunting Party
The Hunting Party

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The Hunting Party (2007)

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Reviews Counted:86

Fresh:45

Rotten:41

Average Rating:6/10

Consensus: The Hunting Party is tonally awkward: its shifts from dark satire to serious political thriller create an uneven film, despite best efforts from its game leads.

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: On the fifth anniversary of the end of the civil war in Bosnia, former hot-shot reporter Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) mysteriously shows up, five years after imploding on live television and... On the fifth anniversary of the end of the civil war in Bosnia, former hot-shot reporter Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) mysteriously shows up, five years after imploding on live television and disappearing into a self-imposed exile. Reunited with his cameraman, Duck (Terrence Howard), who has been promoted to a cushy studio gig working with anchorman Franklin Harris (James Brolin), Simon convinces Duck to go on a dangerous journey to get an interview with the wanted war criminal known as the Fox (Ljubomir Kerekes), based on the real-life Radovan Karadicz. They are joined by Ben (Jesse Eisenberg), the Harvard-educated nephew of a network executive who is in search of adventure and a good story. Together the three drive deep into Serb territory, facing more intrigue and danger than they ever could have imagined. Writer-director Richard Shepard (THE MATADOR) loosely based THE HUNTING PARTY on an article Scott Anderson wrote for Esquire magazine entitled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," about five reporters who actually did go after Karadicz, and tried to capture him. Shepard infuses the film with a sly black humor and fills the story with a crazy cast of oddball characters, paying homage to Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN, which was set in postwar Vienna. The three leads are excellent, especially Gere, who plays Hunt with a knowing grin that often hides what he's really up to. Shot on location in and around Sarajevo, lending the film an eerie reality, THE HUNTING PARTY--which claims at the beginning that "only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true"--is a fun, fascinating political thriller. [More]

Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger

Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, Joy Bryant, James Brolin, Dylan Baker

Director: Richard Shepard

Director: Richard Shepard
Screenwriter: Richard Shepard
Producer: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf, Bill Block
Composer: Rolfe Kent
Studio: Weinstein Company

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Reviews for The Hunting Party

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/15/07
Screen International

Immersed in cynicism and dark humour, this movie wins us over early on and then holds our attention with a compelling story and a trio of interesting central characters.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
09/17/07
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

Gere has so much fun in his role it's almost unfair that he was paid for his efforts.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
01/22/08
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

...the cinematic equivalent of a loud and goofy garage band that hasn't quite mastered the art of staying in tune but sometimes hits you right in the happy zone.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
10/15/07
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

[Director] Shepard strikes just the right absurd, satirical tone until near the end, when he allows the film to wrap up a bit too conveniently.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
09/14/07
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/18/08
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

The strength of The Hunting Party is its shaggy-dog quality.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/07/07
Scott Tobias
Scott Tobias
AV Club

When something seems too bizarre to be true, that's generally how it plays onscreen.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
09/21/07
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Mark Bazer
Mark Bazer
Boston Phoenix

He’s telling the story of a post-war Bosnia so ignored by the international community, war criminals are free to list their names in the phone book. You can’t make stuff like that up. But Shepard makes us think he did.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/25/07
Mark Keizer
Mark Keizer
Boxoffice Magazine

The action plot is lousy with cliched suspense scenes of back-road executions halted at the last possible instant.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/17/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

As they say, the difference between movies and real life is that real life does not have to make sense. And that is what it takes to make crazy times real to us in a way that the truth cannot convey.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
09/21/07
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If the director traffics in the realm of black comedy, any attempts to win us over or encourage sympathy or empathy with the rollicking hell-raisers on screen tend to give off a bad odor.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
09/20/07
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

Compared to a great war zone movie about reporters such as Under Fire, The Hunting Party is thin stuff.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
09/06/07
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

Shepherd and company have found a way to cast the issues of justice and politics into a minor role, the better to keep us absorbed in the agile Gere/Howard action satire.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
08/20/07
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

Adorns its bankrupt inanity in the robes of Importance

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/27/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

"The Hunting Party" is a would-be political satire that paints itself into a corner before leaving a trail of unsightly footprints.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
09/13/07
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

A spry, surprising and intelligent comedy.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
09/20/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Harder to adjust to the humor within the country's tragedy, but Shepard's talent and sensibilities as a filmmaker keeps things light and entertaining.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
09/04/07
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

It's easy to get lost in the movie's zingy blend of the serious and the ironic.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
09/21/07
Mary F. Pols
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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