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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:15
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.3/10
Theatrical Release:Nov 23, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Bob Maconel (Christian Slater, "Bobby," "True Romance") is about to have a bad day. Another eight hours of sitting in a dull grey cubicle, ignored by his co-workers, existing in a world where he... [More]
Starring: Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, William H. Macy, Sascha Knopf
Director: Frank Cappello
Combining the mordant observations of The Office with the twisted romance of Boxing Helena, this macabre farce is an acquired taste, whose fantastical flourishes and toilet humour merely heighten the unsettling perversity of the whole.
Although the budget is low and the plot uneven, it’s got a certain cultish charm that should appeal to disaffected office workers.
At the end you are just left admiring one of Slater’s best ever performances.
With its dreamlike flourishes and unrelenting despair, Frank A. Cappello's pitch-black dramedy feels distinctive even if it recalls bits from Falling Down, Office Space and even Boxing Helena.
It's dark and too relentless for the comedy it would like to be.
The nightmare is enhanced by Slater's gonzo performance. It's great to see the once mighty king of cool challenged in Quiet Man with a complex role that Slater bites down hard on.
Slater does well to soften the lines of his no-hoper caricature, but writer-director Cappello steers his film to nowhere particularly memorable.
He Was a Quiet Man devolves near the end, but it has enough memorable moments (a comic-turned-horrible karaoke sequence is a highlight) to merit a cautious recommendation.
Slater really sells Bob's tormented inner soul in a very appealing way; he feels like a real person inside his insane world.
Above average (just) comedy drama.
An enjoyable satire is let down by a third act that juggles too many ideas for its own good.
He's [Christian Slater] still a capable actor, but seems to be having as much trouble finding good scripts as his Heathers co-star Winona Ryder.
Top CriticOccasionally works as a black comedy, but there's nothing real or true in it
With the right audience He Was a Quiet Man might well play as black comedy. But Slater, disappearing into his role, brings a note of earnest desperation to his performance that's hard to laugh at, and hard to look away from.
A real oddity of a film: a satire of corporate office despair.
Cappello's brilliant script and expert storytelling would merely be interesting if anyone other than Christian Slater had been cast as Bob Maconel.
Imagine Marty if Marty had turned out to be the Unabomber and you’ll have the gist of writer-director Frank Cappello’s oddly compelling, pitch-black comedy.
Christian Slater's dedicated performance aside, He Was A Quiet Man tries to be both a black comedy and a drama, each ultimately undermining the other.
An absorbing and well-made indie drama.
January 26, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
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