Just brilliant.
The Hunting Party (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:86
Fresh:45
Rotten:41
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: The Hunting Party is tonally awkward: its shifts from dark satire to serious political thriller create an uneven film, despite best efforts from its game leads.
Synopsis: On the fifth anniversary of the end of the civil war in Bosnia, former hot-shot reporter Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) mysteriously shows up, five years after imploding on live television and... On the fifth anniversary of the end of the civil war in Bosnia, former hot-shot reporter Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) mysteriously shows up, five years after imploding on live television and disappearing into a self-imposed exile. Reunited with his cameraman, Duck (Terrence Howard), who has been promoted to a cushy studio gig working with anchorman Franklin Harris (James Brolin), Simon convinces Duck to go on a dangerous journey to get an interview with the wanted war criminal known as the Fox (Ljubomir Kerekes), based on the real-life Radovan Karadicz. They are joined by Ben (Jesse Eisenberg), the Harvard-educated nephew of a network executive who is in search of adventure and a good story. Together the three drive deep into Serb territory, facing more intrigue and danger than they ever could have imagined. Writer-director Richard Shepard (THE MATADOR) loosely based THE HUNTING PARTY on an article Scott Anderson wrote for Esquire magazine entitled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," about five reporters who actually did go after Karadicz, and tried to capture him. Shepard infuses the film with a sly black humor and fills the story with a crazy cast of oddball characters, paying homage to Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN, which was set in postwar Vienna. The three leads are excellent, especially Gere, who plays Hunt with a knowing grin that often hides what he's really up to. Shot on location in and around Sarajevo, lending the film an eerie reality, THE HUNTING PARTY--which claims at the beginning that "only the most ridiculous parts of this story are true"--is a fun, fascinating political thriller. [More]
Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger
Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, Joy Bryant, James Brolin, Dylan Baker
Director: Richard Shepard
Director: Richard Shepard
Screenwriter: Richard Shepard
Producer: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf, Bill Block
Composer: Rolfe Kent
Studio: Weinstein Company
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Reviews for The Hunting Party
Alternately glib, superficial and amusing, pic vainly attempts to absorb some degree of Serbian irony into a story that's unavoidably lessened by its privileged American vantage point.
Gere is convincing as a self-destructive has-been desperate for a comeback; and Howard's long-suffering but comfortable presence wonderfully balances him. You actually believe these guys could be pals.
...it does make room for the latest, loose-screw character part in the reinvention of Gere's career.
Ludicrous, bewildering, and largely true (at least the "most ridiculous parts" according to the film's preface), it plays like an adventure story written by Kafka
Has a few moments of Hunter Thompsonish comic inspiration, but its vibe feels more untethered by the minute.
The whole is reasonably diverting, but on the other hand not very special.
The Hunting Party looks chillingly authentic. But it also feels too much like it's all over the map.
A political statement cloaked in the animal skin of satire, Party is more easily digested as a highly effective acting exercise than a brutal karate-chop to geopolitical-soft minds.
Hopefully, The Hunting Party will find the success it needs to keep Shepard making off-center movies because Hollywood doesn't always reward hard-to-categorize films like this one.
Immersed in cynicism and dark humour, this movie wins us over early on and then holds our attention with a compelling story and a trio of interesting central characters.
Politics aside, The Hunting Party is a breezy, occasionally bumpy ride that ultimately becomes a satisfying journey.
The biggest problem with the movie is the tone, which is by turns preachy, silly, mawkish and dark.
Set in postwar Bosnia, The Hunting Party is all over the place in tone and seeming intent.
[Director] Shepard strikes just the right absurd, satirical tone until near the end, when he allows the film to wrap up a bit too conveniently.
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