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Movies / On DVD / People I Know
People I Know

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People I Know (2003)

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Reviews Counted:51

Fresh:22

Rotten:29

Average Rating:5.5/10

Consensus: The derivative plot fails to cohere or draw the viewer in.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Al Pacino transforms himself into former all-star publicist Eli Wurman in Dan Algrant's PEOPLE I KNOW. Wurman is a southern-born onetime mover and shaker who is at the end of his rope--and his... Al Pacino transforms himself into former all-star publicist Eli Wurman in Dan Algrant's PEOPLE I KNOW. Wurman is a southern-born onetime mover and shaker who is at the end of his rope--and his career. His last major client, Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), is an Oscar-winning actor who has Wurman clean up his messes for him; in this case, Wurman has to get drug-addled television host Jilli Hopper (Tea Leoni) out of jail and back to California. But a detour leads Wurman into a secret sex-and-drug den filled with the rich and powerful--and also gets him involved in murder. PEOPLE I KNOW shares its fast-paced, winner-take-all, back stabbing world with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, which also tore apart New York City's hot publicity world. The eclectic cast does a fine job, with Pacino and Leoni standing out. Kim Basinger has a supporting role as Victoria Gray, Wurman's former sister-in-law who offers him the chance to retire to a quiet life on a ranch, but Wurman first has to pull off a politically controversial fundraiser that is making a lot of people upset. [More]

Starring: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal, Tea Leoni

Starring: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal, Tea Leoni, Bill Nunn, Richard Schiff, Sophie Dahl, Mark Webber, Robert Klein, David Marshall Grant, Jon Hendricks

Director: Dan Algrant

Director: Dan Algrant
Screenwriter: Jon Robin Baitz
Producer: Michael Nozik, Leslie Urdang, Karen Tenkoff
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: Miramax Films

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Reviews for People I Know

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Intriguing but deeply flawed thriller.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/05/04
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
02/20/04
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
01/29/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
03/17/04
Antonia Quirke
Antonia Quirke
This is London
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
04/09/04
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pacino unleashes every trick in his actor's bag... The accent alone batters us into the back of the theater, making us want to go home.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
06/18/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

It was filmed in and around the World Trade Center, and the subsequent cuts, reshoots and sleights of hand designed to obscure that fact prove devastating.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/25/03
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News

All big, subversive fun. In a depressing sort of way.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
05/09/03
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

Not much to admire.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/21/03
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Filmcritic.com

[Starts] off like a B-version of Sweet Smell of Success before ending like a C-version of The Parallax View.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
07/21/04
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

People I Know hits the mark with its sophisticated depiction of a worn-out PR agent desperately trying to find a way to redeem his sad and sorry life.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
04/24/03
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Sometimes incisive but finally overbaked drama.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/24/03
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today

While the film is perhaps a bit too talky, it's so fiendishly insightful that it keeps us hooked.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
01/29/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Film Threat

Pacino is superb as Eli.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
03/10/03
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

Worth watching for Pacino's hollow-eyed, full-bodied performance and for the strong supporting cast surrounding him.

Full Review Source: Journal News (Westchester, NY) | comment Comment
04/26/03
Marshall Fine
Marshall Fine
Journal News (Westchester, NY)

People I Know rests not at the bottom of that pile, not at the top, but just out of range of significance, to be forgotten the minute the audience’s back is turned.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
05/30/03
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
FilmStew.com

Dropped into this ocean of bathos, even Al can't tread water -- at that precise moment, he and his performance drown.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/09/03
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

A character-study-in- constant-motion, with a little murder on the side -- and because that character is played by Pacino, it often fascinates.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/22/03
Harry Haun
Harry Haun
Film Journal International
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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