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Movies / On DVD / The Guys
The Guys

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The Guys (2002)

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72 %
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Reviews Counted:61

Fresh:44

Rotten:17

Average Rating:6.4/10

Consensus: A moving tribute.

Runtime: 85 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: After the 9-11 tragedy the New York Theatre community was reeling and trying to find a way to respond to the horrific event with equal parts respect and reverence. In Tribeca, located blocks away... After the 9-11 tragedy the New York Theatre community was reeling and trying to find a way to respond to the horrific event with equal parts respect and reverence. In Tribeca, located blocks away from Ground Zero, Manhattan Flea Theater's Artistic Director, Jim Simpson, decided to commission a play from his friend Anne Nelson, a Columbia School of Journalism professor, after hearing her true story of meeting with a New York City Fire Captain to help him write eulogies for his fallen fire fighters. Her story became THE GUYS, which has now been adapted and directed by Simpson for the big screen and stars Sigourney Weaver (Simpson's wife) as Joan, a freelance journalist living and working in Manhattan during the days following September 11th. Joan is horrified by the tragedy, but feels like an incapable bystander, until she meets Nick (Anthony LaPaglia) a veteran New York City Fire Captain who must speak at numerous memorial services for his fallen men. Paralyzed by grief, the big-hearted blue-collar hero is incapable of expressing his true feelings until Joan begins to carefully elicit touching stories and anecdotes from him. Joan sensitively responds to Nick's colorful and mournful memories and slowly the very real human lives of his firefighters begin to take the shape of the eulogies he must deliver. Together, the two New Yorkers, affected by September 11th in very different ways, comfort and heal each other in this very personal and moving tribute to the fallen heroes of 9-11. [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Anthony LaPaglia

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Anthony LaPaglia

Director: Jim Simpson

Director: Jim Simpson
Producer: Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for The Guys

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/02/03
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
04/04/03
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
04/01/03
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Nitrate Online

An exercise in art therapy rather than a work of art.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/02/03
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The sobriety of the play has been preserved at the expense of the movie.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
04/15/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Maudlin and melodramatic we expected. Boring we didn't.

Full Review Source: Denton Record Chronicle (TX) | comment Comment
04/02/03
Boo Allen
Boo Allen
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

At times THE GUYS taps into some powerful emotions, but this kind of material is more effective on stage. It's not a motion picture; it's an utterly static picture.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
03/27/03
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

No one can doubt the filmmakers' motives, but The Guys still feels counterproductive.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
12/24/02
Daniel Eagan
Daniel Eagan
Film Journal International

[A] stuporously solemn film.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
04/04/03
David Hiltbrand
David Hiltbrand
Philadelphia Inquirer

Watching the film is like reading a Times Portrait of Grief that keeps shifting focus to the journalist who wrote it.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
04/01/03
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice

A noble attempt, but not much more.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
07/04/03
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

No review available.

comment Comment
08/29/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A movie like The Guys is why film criticism can be considered work.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
04/04/03
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
01/13/03
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

However clever Nelson has been in providing variation within the confines of her structure and staging, the question remains whether this should, indeed, have been presented as a theatrical release.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/17/03
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Filmcritic.com

The occasional intercut of fire department surveillance camera footage isn't exactly making the most of the cinema medium.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
02/06/09
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

A well-intentioned misfire that doesn't work in the way it intended.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
07/04/03
Randy Cordova
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic

...pays tribute to heroes the way Julia Roberts hands out awards--with phony humility barely camouflaging grotesque narcissism.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
04/01/03
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

Upper West Sidey exercise in narcissism and self-congratulation disguised as a tribute.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/04/03
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
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