The place where consciousness runs into itself is where this author reigned supreme, and Krasinski brings Wallace’s concentric, self-aware ironies to the screen.
Comment
11/05/09
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009)
48
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:12
Rotten:13
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Ambitious but uneven, John Krasinski's adaptation of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men tries hard but doesn't match the depth of the book.
Synopsis: Based on the book by David Foster Wallace, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN is a darkly funny and disturbing exploration of men and their complex relationships with women. Sara Quinn is... [More]
Starring: Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Cerveris, Josh Charles
Director: John Krasinski
Reviews for Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
The movie provides more questions than answers.
10/31/09
A haunting exploration into men's minds that becomes too much of a psychological study to qualify as accessible entertainment for most.
10/12/09
I worry that this film is static enough and stiff enough that it’s going to keep people away from discovering David Foster Wallace if they haven’t read him.
09/28/09
Tthough this experiment doesn’t quite succeed, there’s enough intelligence and insight in this movie to make it worth the attempt.
09/28/09
[Krasinski's] generosity of intent is really the main impression that remains. He read, he loved, and unfortunately, he did not conquer.
09/28/09
Too awkward, disjointed and bland while lacking dramatic momentum and true insight.
09/27/09
Actor John Krasinski deserves credit for having the ambition to adapt material as difficult as David Foster Wallace's short stories.
09/25/09
Krasinski literalizes Wallace’s stylistic love of asides too much, but it helps that he’s aware enough of his movie’s limitations to keep Brief Interviews blessedly short.
09/25/09
Everyone speaks in the sweatily polysyllabic, Look-at-This-Writing-I'm-Doing tone that makes a page of Wallace pass like an hour on the treadmill, and the men are dopes or creeps.
09/25/09
The Penis Monologues!
09/25/09
It's an undeniably ambitious, if uneven, effort. Some of Krasinski's directorial flourishes are inspired, such as Christopher Meloni's imaginative re-telling (and offbeat re-enacting) about a woman he met as she stood crying at the airport.
09/25/09
Top CriticCompacted into an 80-minute mishmash of interviews, confessions and sketches, melded into a shaky mosaic, the answers from a cross section of men are shallow, self-serving and ultimately unenlightening.
09/25/09
Top CriticSometimes humorous, sometimes repulsive, never insightful, the movie comes off like the work of an overeager college student.
09/24/09
Krasinski stitches these raw blasts of the subconscious with interludes that exude a pleasing, Woody Allen-esque tone, all fall colors and potent theorizing over white wine
09/24/09
Krasinski preserves Wallace's whooshing roller coasters of words, powered by the fuel of confession.
09/23/09
Whatever it was about Hideous Men that so deeply affected Krasinski the college student has been lost in translation.
09/23/09
The question is, could someone turn these full-frontal-dudity snapshots into a satisfying, cohesive movie? Answer: no, but not for lack of trying.
09/23/09
Will surely allow you to see John Krasinski in a different light, both as a filmmaker and as a dramatic actor.
09/22/09
John Krasinski’s adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s ... Brief Interviews With Hideous Men works only in spurts, but when it does, it’s enough to remind us how much deeper our dramatists could drill -- and of the magnitude of Wallace’s loss.
09/21/09
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