Mr. Parker has brilliantly updated his source and grasped its essence, composing a sorrowful and hilarious tone poem about alienated labor, or an absurdist workplace sitcom.
Comment
04/16/01
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Bartleby (2002)
35
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:54
Fresh:19
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: Bartleby is a rather dull affair, stretched over a too-long running time.
Synopsis: Former musician Jonathan Parker makes his feature film directorial debut with a modern retelling of the Herman Melville classic, BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER. The off-kilter comedy follows the boss of a... [More]
Starring: Crispin Glover, David Paymer, Glenne Headly, Joe Piscopo
Director: Jonathan Parker
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Reviews for Bartleby
Top CriticClick to read the article
04/05/03
Though this film can be clumsy, its ambitions are equally -- and admirably -- uncommercial.
06/07/02
Quirky and understated office comedy with Crispin Glover as the guy who would prefer not to work, but likes to hang around.
06/04/02
While Parker and co-writer Catherine di Napoli are faithful to Melville’s plotline, they and a fully engaged supporting cast ... have made the old boy’s characters more quick-witted than any English Lit major would have thought possible.
06/01/02
Director Jonathan Parker gets points simply for trying to tackle the writings of Herman Melville.
07/16/02
Glover is perfect for the role, and Paymer lends a strange, almost addictive voice to his character’s vocal style.
07/09/03
Hard to resist.
05/31/02
Top CriticIt's nice to see Piscopo again after all these years, and Chaykin and Headly are priceless.
05/24/02
With a small budget and a brilliant team, director/co-writer Jonathan Parker has brought new relevance to Bartleby's revolt, and converted an office sitcom format into a damning critique of the way many people spend their days.
05/25/02
As satisfyingly odd and intriguing a tale as it was a century and a half ago...has a delightfully dour, deadpan tone and stylistic consistency.
05/23/02
Is office work really as alienating as 'Bartleby' so effectively makes it?
05/07/02
Paymer and Glover are terrific as the perplexed boss and the laconic non-performing employee.
10/21/02
Funny, somber, absurd, and, finally, achingly sad, Bartleby is a fine, understated piece of filmmaking.
05/31/02
A much more successful translation than its most famous previous film adaptation, writer-director Anthony Friedman's similarly updated 1970 British production.
06/10/02
This is a shrewd and effective film from a director who understands how to create and sustain a mood.
06/07/02
Top CriticYou will likely prefer to keep on watching.
08/16/02
No review available.
01/08/05
No review available.
08/29/05
Melville is often favored for his troubled heroes on their obsessive, nihilistic journeys into the abyss. Of course this kind of thing can be easy to screw up on film, as Parker has done here.
12/08/02
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