Poster art for "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men."

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 44 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | James Greenberg

    One hell of a date movie. A surgical examination of the male psyche based on David Foster Wallace's book and written and directed by John Krasinski, there is plenty of food for thought and argument. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    At times, the movie could have been called "Me and You and Every One of the Bastards We Know," but Krasinski preserves Wallace's whooshing roller coasters of words, powered by the fuel of confession. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    An insightful, sharply written and unsettlingly amusing exploration of the darker elements of masculinity. Read full review

  • 60
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    In his directorial debut, Krasinski doesn't seem to believe in his hideous men so much as he appears intimidated by them. Read full review

  • 50
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    What this arid and arty exercise offers is the opportunity for a bunch of actors, many of them tethered to TV series, to deliver theatrical monologues pulsing with misogyny and narcissism. It's like second-rate Neil Labute. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times |

    The film is intelligent, well crafted and often funny, but it may not sufficiently reward even the brief time it asks one to spend with such hideous men. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    If we learn nothing else about Krasinski as a filmmaker, it's that he thinks more is more. Read full review

  • 40
    Austin Chronicle | Kimberley Jones

    They're not all hideous, the men who sit for interviews with a graduate student (Nicholson) and unload their dirty laundry. Sometimes they're just feckless, or crass; some are even pitiable. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    It's a very academic movie about academics that belongs in academia, not movie theaters. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Compacted 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. Read full review

View more reviews for Brief Interviews With Hideous Men on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Intense look at gender and relationships is best for adults.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this indie relationship drama directed by The Office star John Krasinski based on the story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace is aimed at adults. The subject matter can feel very heavy, and the characters who deliver the movie's intense monologues/conversations about the coolly detached -- and sometimes destructive -- ways that men interact with women are are deeply flawed. Expect some swearing (including words like "f--k"), sexual references, social drinking, and smoking.
  • Families can talk about how the movie depicts relationships. How are men portrayed? What about women? Does this seem realistic to you?
  • Do the men seem like a certain "type"? Are they clichéd or multi-faceted? Are the filmmakers reinforcing stereotypes or confronting them?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The movie presents a multifaceted, complex portrait of modern relationships -- there's no simple take-away here. Women don’t have it easy, but neither do men.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Most, but not all, of the men in the film come across as deeply flawed -- to the point of near caricature. They're depicted as chauvinistic, opportunistic, or just plain messed up. The female protagonist, though equally flawed, appears to be very strong.
What to watch for
  • violence false1 Violence: Though no one is physically hurt, some of the stories the men tell are demeaning of women. And in some, there's an undercurrent of hostility.
  • sex false2 Sex: Men and women aren’t shown actually hooking up, but some scenes depict men ogling women or picking them up. A couple is shown cuddling.
  • language false3 Language: Fairly raw. Everything from “damn” to “f--k.”
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some social drinking and smoking by adult characters.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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