RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Art School Confidential
Art School Confidential

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Art School Confidential (2006)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
36 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:131

Fresh:47

Rotten:84

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: Art School's misanthropy is too sour, its targets too flat and cliched, and Clowes and Zwigoff stumble when trying to build a story around the premise.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language including sexual references, nudity and a scene of violence.

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:May 5, 2006 Limited

Box Office: $3,174,973

Synopsis: "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to... "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to become the world's greatest artist, like his hero Picasso. Unfortunately, the beauty and craft of Jerome's portraiture are not appreciated in an anything-goes art class that he finds bewildering and bogus. Neither his harsh judgments of his classmates' efforts or his later attempts to create pseudo-art of his own win him any admirers. But Jerome does attract the attentions of his dream girl — the stunning and sophisticated Audrey (Sophia Myles) — an artist's model and daughter of a celebrated artist. Rejecting the affectations of the local art scene, Audrey is drawn to Jerome's sincerity. When Audrey shifts her attentions to Jonah (Matt Keeslar), a hunky painter who becomes the school's latest art star, Jerome is heartbroken. Desperate, he concocts a risky plan to make a name for himself and win her back. Filling out Jerome's world are a host of offbeat characters, including: a quirky art teacher (John Malkovich) who takes an extra-curricular interest in Jerome; a failed artist (Jim Broadbent), drowning in alcohol and self-pity; a regal art history professor (Anjelica Huston) Jerome tries to influence; a coffee shop owner-cum-art impresario (Steve Buscemi) swelling with self-importance; a worldly classmate (Joel David Moore), who introduces Jerome in the intricate mores of campus life; and Jerome's filmmaker roommate (Ethan Suplee), exploding with energy to create a cinematic masterpiece. United Artists and Sony Pictures Classics present Terry Zwigoff's "Art School Confidential," starring Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Matt Keeslar, Steve Buscemi and Anjelica Huston. The film is produced by Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich and Russell Smith, partners in the production company Mr. Mudd, which also produced "Ghost World." Based on Daniel Clowes' short comic story of the same name, "Art School Confidential" is directed by Zwigoff from a screenplay by Clowes. --© Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Ezra Buzzington

Starring: Max Minghella, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Ezra Buzzington, Sophia Myles, Matt Keeslar, Anjelica Huston, Steve Buscemi, Adam Scott, Nick Swardson, Paul Collins, Roxanne Hart

Director: Terry Zwigoff

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Screenwriter: Daniel Clowes
Producer: Russell Smith, Daniel Clowes
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Exclusive Clip - "Self Portrait"
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Oct 10, 2006

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Art School Confidential

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Their humor comes not from a need to be loved or a need to win awards, but rather straight from an acute awareness of the world's follies.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/12/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

No matter which is the real imitator, life or art, Art School Confidential does its own fine job skewering both.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
05/12/06
Ted Fry
Ted Fry
Seattle Times

The film loses its way with multiple subplots, becoming a hodgepodge that isn't particularly hard to follow, but, far worse, provides no compelling reason to bother.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/12/06
Ruthe Stein
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The movie has no supportive theme or rhythm, nothing to bind its dotty patches together.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
05/12/06
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

This tale of a naïve young student who is thrown to the arrogant wolves at an art school comes off as both insecure and insincere. I often didn't believe it, and I wasn't sure the creators really believed it either.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
05/12/06
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

A movie with the odd, tired joke about art and artists, a college romance that isn't romantic, and a plot twist that doesn't twist at all.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
05/12/06
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

The movie, as a whole, doesn't hang together.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
05/12/06
Mike Russell
Mike Russell
Oregonian

It feels deflated, disgruntled and pathetic.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
05/12/06
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Despite running out of juice in its last half-hour, Art School Confidential has enough solid laughs and insider jokes to become a cult perennial.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
05/12/06
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Makes you want to dunk your head in a paint can.

Full Review Source: Fresno Bee | comment Comment
05/12/06
Donald Munro
Donald Munro
Fresno Bee

Zwigoff's angry exposé of this intense, tiny subculture isn't fair to anyone in the art world, but if you can stomach the overstatement, it's often scathingly funny. And it's sometimes scathingly smart.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
05/12/06
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

What keeps the film from being altogether snide and smug are the well-intentioned performances.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
05/12/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Takes some getting used to, but ends up being as bleak as Zwigoff's coal-blackened Bad Santa.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Weekly | comment Comment
05/12/06
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Charlotte Weekly

The film does seem pleased with itself and is so smug and superior that it's off-putting.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
05/12/06
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

By the end, it feels as if Zwigoff and Clowes skimmed through a sketchbook without figuring out how to make a fully realized painting, a task that might have mattered less had the movie been either thematically more ambitious or more consistently funny.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
05/12/06
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's not a single person to like in Art School Confidential, a crucial mistake in a movie filled with mean, shallow and self-absorbed characters.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
05/12/06
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post

Simply runs out of things to do once it establishes its ground rules of defining stereotypes and mocking pretension.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
05/12/06
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As is, the dark comedy comes off like an ill-prepared yet cocky student, lacking a clear sense of vision and only getting it right every so often.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
05/12/06
Randy Myers
Randy Myers
Contra Costa Times

There is something in the Zwigoffian universe that values such characters [as Jimmy]; having abandoned all illusions, they offer the possibility of truth. I also much enjoyed Broadway Bob.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
05/12/06
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even if one disagrees with some of its points, as I do, it offers plenty to mull over.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
05/12/06
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

Latest News for Art School Confidential

September 14, 2007: Zwigoff, Clowes to Assemble $40,000 Man
The creative duo responsible for Ghost World and Art School Confidential has found its next project. More...

August 27, 2007: Video Exclusive: Sophia Myles talks Hallam Foe with RT
We chat to the supremely lovely British actress about her latest role in David Mackenzie's new film. More...

May 14, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: "Mission: Impossible 3" Beats "Poseidon" to Remain at #1
Tom Cruise's spy sequel Mission: Impossible III remained the most popular film in North America for the second straight weekend while the big-budget disaster film Poseidon... More...

May 07, 2006: Box Office Wrapup: "Mission: Impossible III" Big, But Not Huge at #1
Tom Cruise climbed into his usual number one spot at the box office with his heavily-hyped spy sequel Mission: Impossible III, however ticket sales fell below most industry... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
67% 67% Public Enemies
75% 75% Julie & Julia
95% 95% The Cove
85% 85% World's Greatest Dad

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Take a trip through Clint Eastwood's career!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

RT on DVD

RT on DVD

Find the latest releases on DVD and Blu-ray!

The Blind Side

The Blind Side

Did you see it? Rate and review it here!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Cameron Explains Blue Avatar Aliens Source: MTV
7
  • Matt Damon Expects Greengrass to Return for Fourth Bourne Source: Collider.com
4
  • Burton's Dark Shadows Rising in 2010 Source: Sci Fi Wire
1
  • Exclusive: The World of Where the Wild Things Are
24
  • Peter Jackson Talks Hobbit, LotR Blu-ray Source: Collider.com
20
  • Woman Jailed for Filming New Moon Screening Source: Chicago Sun-Times
17
  • McG Has Plans for Fifth and Sixth Terminator Movies Source: Gizmodo
201
  • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
22
  • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
24
  • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
26
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
83
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
57
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
50
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
46
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
41
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
40
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
37
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: The Blind Side Takes the Lead
29
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
28
  • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Harry Potter, and more!
24
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films With Avatar's Sam Worthington
24
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Art School Confidential at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Art School Confidential at IGN
  • Art School Confidential at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
History of Disney Animation
History of Disney Animation External Link

MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.

90 Years of Screen Vampires
90 Years of Screen Vampires External Link

TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.

Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones
Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones External Link

Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

Recent Headlines as TV Movies
Recent Headlines as TV Movies External Link

AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.

The Death of Original Thought
The Death of Original Thought External Link

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill explores how remakes and reboots have warped our thinking.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.