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Movies / Upcoming / An American Affair
An American Affair

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An American Affair (2009)

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Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:6

Rotten:29

Average Rating:3.8/10

Consensus: With a plot both undercooked and cliche riddled, An American Affair unsuccessfully mixes a coming-of-age story and a presidential conspiracy thriller.

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: Washington DC, 1963: the Cuban Missile Crisis is last year’s news, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s young administration is starting to hit its stride. Behind the scenes, however, winds... Washington DC, 1963: the Cuban Missile Crisis is last year’s news, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s young administration is starting to hit its stride. Behind the scenes, however, winds of discontent are swirling.

Thirteen-year-old Adam Stafford has his own problems to deal with. At that uncomfortable age when both everything and nothing seems possible, he’s a bit of a loner, a kid who spends too much time wrapped up in his own thoughts as he suffers through the daily grind of nuns, bullies, and girls at Holy Cross School. Until the evening his adolescent yearnings come to life: Adam spies a beautiful naked woman in the house across the street, and his curiosity is inflamed. The woman is Catherine Caswell, a stunning thirty-something blond beauty who has just moved in. Captivated, Adam is determined to learn all he can about his new neighbor.

Catherine is an artist, a divorcee and a confidante (if not more...) of JFK. Against all odds, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the innocent thirteen-year-old and the world-weary survivor.

But friendship is never enough, not in Washington, and not at the height of the Cold War. Catherine’s hidden past soon catches up with them as she and Adam find themselves enmeshed in the growing confusion and intrigue leading to the assassination of the President.--© Screen Media [More]

Starring: Gretchen Mol, James Rebhorn, Cameron Bright, Mark Pellegrino

Starring: Gretchen Mol, James Rebhorn, Cameron Bright, Mark Pellegrino, Perrey Reeves, Noah Wyle

Director: William Sten Olsson

Director: William Sten Olsson
Screenwriter: Alex Metcalf
Producer: Kevin Leydon, William Sten Olsson
Composer: Dustin O'Halloran
Studio: Screen Media

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Reviews for An American Affair

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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so absurd and convoluted that even JFK's legacy can't subdue its preposterousness

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/22/09
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
Filmcritic.com

An earnest, fictional coming-of-age story is squeezed from a bitter, true-life local tragedy. And it works.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/13/09
Dan Zak
Dan Zak
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Out of its mind at a deep, essential level, An American Affair plays its dubious scenario with a straight face that makes the silly thing quite watchable.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
03/13/09
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

The title sums up the bland, unimaginative and cliche-laden thriller/coming-of-age tale.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
03/12/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Before An American Affair is over, you can be sure that Adam will learn a very familiar life lesson.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
03/08/09
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

There are scenes that work here and there, but regrettably not nearly enough to hold the film together. In the end, this affair is definitely not one to remember.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
03/06/09
Betsy Sharkey
Betsy Sharkey
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Painfully contrived

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/02/09
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons
At the Movies

Start to finish, [the film] makes absolutely no sense.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/02/09
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies

Turns out An American Affair needed more than a name change to save itself from embarrassment.

Full Review Source: Washington City Paper | comment Comment
03/02/09
Tricia Olszewski
Tricia Olszewski
Washington City Paper

Even the famous M Street stairs from "The Exorcist" are out of place in the climax of this lightweight movie.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
03/01/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The most compelling moment comes from archival footage.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
02/27/09
Geoff Berkshire
Geoff Berkshire
Metromix.com

It's all presented so earnestly... that you barely realize at the time how preposterous it all is. Intrigue! Cubans! The Bay of Pigs! JFK! It's the coming-of-age tale filtered through the mind of Oliver Stone,

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
02/27/09
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

This is not, by any reasonable definition of the term, a professional film, even though several experienced and established actors have been inveigled to inhabit it

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
02/27/09
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a good rule of thumb that any film that grandly puts "American" in its title is going to try to make some statements way beyond its pay grade.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
02/27/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger

Even Oliver Stone would giggle.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
02/27/09
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

Gretchen Mol, lounging semi-nude as she smokes near an open Georgetown window, would spark any young man's curiosity and recklessness. But the assassination story line is absurd.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
02/27/09
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter

An implausible drama about some Washington D.C. people plotting around the time of the assassination of JFK.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
02/27/09
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

A captivating, witty and poignant drama. Gretchen Mol sizzles.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
02/27/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

JFK meets Notes on a Scandal meets Rear Window? An American Affair has some promise and potential, but its main ideas remain messy and undeveloped.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/27/09
Eric Monder
Eric Monder
Film Journal International

The Cuban Missile Crisis is a year passed and the assassination is looming, and yet Adam's pubescent crises are given Wagnerian emphasis.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
02/27/09
John Anderson
John Anderson
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for An American Affair

March 01, 2009: A dash of Ingmar Bergman and Oliver Stone in this Capitol Hill noir, as kinky DC sexual politics collide with flaky JFK conspiracy theories, and Bay of Pigs CIA boozer masterminds wonder if communists are having more fun. Opens in new window
More...

February 26, 2009: Critics Consensus: Jonas Brothers Fizzles
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