Rickman's a professorial womanizer who's not above turning a "C" student's grade to "A" if she looks like City Hall (Eliza Dushku) and puts out.
Nobel Son (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:56
Fresh:14
Rotten:42
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: Despite the best efforts of a strong cast, Nobel Son is over-plotted and self-consciously odd.
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Randall Miller's NOBEL SON is an ultra-stylized comic thriller with so many twists it could make David Mamet blush. The film opens at the midway point for a quick jolt of violence, then backs up... Randall Miller's NOBEL SON is an ultra-stylized comic thriller with so many twists it could make David Mamet blush. The film opens at the midway point for a quick jolt of violence, then backs up and tells the story from the very beginning. Barkley Michaelsen (Bryan Greenberg) is a college student living under the shadow of his monstrous, arrogant father, Eli (Alan Rickman), who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry. When not being a genius, Eli reveals himself to be a truly miserable man who cheats on his beautiful wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen). As for Barkley, on the night that he goes home with a sultry poet named City Hall (Eliza Dushku), his life takes an unexpected turn for the dangerous. The arrival of a mysterious figure named Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy) confirms his troubled situation. At this point, the lies, double crosses, and backstabs begin to multiply at an alarming rate. NOBEL SON comes off like a glossy, revved-up hybrid between Quentin Tarantino and torture porn. Miller and Jody Savin fill their script with as many comic elements as they do noir-esque twists and moments of grotesque violence. Helping to bring things to fuller life is the impressive cast--most notably Hatosy, who lends a welcome measure of depth to a character that could have easily become a tired cliche. NOBEL SON is for those viewers who like a healthy dose of gore and humor with their twisting narratives. [More]
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bryan Greenberg, Shawn Hatosy, Mary Steenburgen
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bryan Greenberg, Shawn Hatosy, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman, Ted Danson, Ernie Hudson, Lindy Booth, Tracey Walter, Eliza Dushku, Danny DeVito
Director: Randall Miller
Director: Randall Miller
Screenwriter: Jody Savin, Randall Miller
Producer: Jody Savin, Randall Miller
Composer: Paul Oakenfold, Mark Adler
Studio: Freestyle Releasing
Reviews for Nobel Son
I have no idea how all the scenes in this movie connect. But I loved watching it unfold.
You want to see how it plays out, but it's just frustrating to wade through all the "style" to get there.
Its 110 minutes are a totally disposable piece of fluff, but perhaps more importantly, also a whole lot of fun.
Never feels like anything more than an über-nerd desperately trying to be cool -- like watching Jon Heder pretending to be James Bond.
The screenplay starts out clever enough, but devolves into a ridiculous mishmash of incoherent subplots.
Director Miller employs high-octane music and the technique of high speed filming for certain sequences, which I suppose is a blessing since they shorten the running time.
I had high hopes for Nobel Son at the halfway point, but it ultimately really completely collapses under the weight of its clever twists.
It's one of those perfect-crime kinda flicks, wrapped up in familial angst as a black-comedy topping. That it's all rather ridiculous and overly complicates itself in the process is almost beside the point...
Gets more and more convoluted and preposterous as it goes along, and far less fun...a movie that, despite the title, will win no prizes.
An undignified mess that should embarrass Rickman and everyone else involved.
It's the sort of movie where calling it 'over the top' can only be taken as a compliment.
It might not win any awards, but it’s a highly entertaining way to spend an evening.
The plot twists are mostly predicated on the characters' improbably shifting loyalties, the sort of thing you can get away with only when the people in your movie are drained of all compassion.
Latest News for Nobel Son
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