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Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:4
Rotten:31
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: A glum drama that's so self-affected it fails to affect.
Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Based on a play by David Greig, THE ARCHITECT stirs together issues of class, race, sexuality, and architecture, then heats up to create potent sociological drama. Anthony LaPaglia stars as Leo, a... [More]
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Hayden Panettiere
Director: Matt Tauber
The connective tissue between disparate characters (such as the gay black kid from the projects who befriends a rich closeted white dude) can sometimes feel too convenient, but the situations are consistently well-realized and mature.
The Architect is an affecting study in the private loneliness and strength of Tonya, a woman who understands her own motives only imperfectly but presses ahead anyway.
Top CriticWhat makes the movie satisfying is the fact that its ethnic tensions are never overtly exacerbated, but rather subtly illustrated simply by the comparison of the decadent malaise of the spoiled-rotten versus the neverending nightmare of the have-nots.
An award-winning architect finds himself pitted against a resident who has to live in one of his deteriorating housing blocks in Chicago in Matt Tauber’s thoughtful second feature.
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It's a compact and symmetrical picture with all its plot points in the right places, but I never found it convincing in the slightest.
Top CriticSkids mightily in the transition from three to two dimensions.
... The Architect is filled with ciphers and symbols, without a smidgen of narrative reason to hold it together.
...A grim little exercise in exorcising middle-class guilt.
Top Criticsapped by sluggish direction
The movie doesn't so much tell a story as scream its messages at us in a series of awkward scenes that test the actors' ability to make fake-o dialogue seem like something an actual person might say.
Occasionally a pallid film is salvaged by one wonderful performance. To the extent The Architect will be remembered, it will be for giving a starring role to the exceptional Viola Davis.
When Tauber finds his focus, The Architect is worth watching. But Tauber rarely finds his focus.
For all the added scope and locations of the film medium, it still seems as stagy and claustrophobic as hell.
Flaunts lame ghetto and dark-side-of-suburbia clichés in self-loathing standstill after self-loathing standstill, none of which offer a genuinely insightful perspective on modern living.
Families in crisis always make for good drama. What we've got are the usual good people suffering for little or no reason, and for some audiences, that's always forefends a rollicking good time...NOT!
There are too many characters undergoing life changes in the story for each to be properly developed in an 82-minute movie.
Top CriticToo well meaning and self-congratulatory for its own good.
Top CriticDespite his obvious earnestness, first-time director and cowriter Matt Tauber is ill equipped to mine emotions this complex.
The dull indie drama The Architect comes from the stage, which is where it should have stayed.
Top Critic
December 05, 2006:
RTIndie: Stephen Frears Talks "The Queen" and Oscars; Almodovar And Cruz To Re-Team; Slamdance Lineup Set
In making "The Queen," Stephen Frears has directed one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and made $49 million in global box office returns to boot.... More...
November 30, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Nativity" Is Too Safe; "Turistas" Not Worth Trip
This week at the movies, we've got a new take on the first Noel ("The Nativity Story," starring Keisha Castle-Hughes), endangered Americans in Brazil... More...
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