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At Any Price Play Trailer Get Showtimes

At Any Price (2012)

tomatometer

58

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 21

At Any Price features a terrific performance from Dennis Quaid, and it offers further evidence of Ramin Bahrani's unique eye for detail, but film is weighted down by an overly melodramatic story.

65

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 7

At Any Price features a terrific performance from Dennis Quaid, and it offers further evidence of Ramin Bahrani's unique eye for detail, but film is weighted down by an overly melodramatic story.

audience

75

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 1,606

My Rating

Movie Info

In the competitive world of modern agriculture, ambitious HENRY WHIPPLE (Dennis Quaid) wants his rebellious son DEAN (Zac Efron) to help expand his family's farming empire. However, Dean has his sights set on becoming a professional race car driver. When a high-stakes investigation into their business is exposed, father and son are pushed into an unexpected crisis that threatens the family's entire livelihood. (c) Sony Classics

R,

Drama

Ramin Bahrani

$60.9k

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All Critics (50) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (21)

It's one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, and not in a particularly good way.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Richard Roeper.com
Richard Roeper.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The narrative takes a surprising turn, leading to a troubling and, I think, successful third act. Most uneven pictures have a way of fading to gray in the final lap; this one actually gets better as it goes.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
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Bahrani is a gifted filmmaker. But he shoots himself in the foot by throwing in a contrived plot device that creates drama at the expense of credibility.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
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Feels like a series of note cards ("father-son conflict," "dad's mistress hits on son") that never weave together to make a gripping plot.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: The Wrap
The Wrap
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It's powerful stuff.

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Easy resolutions compete with preposterous melodrama.

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Daily News
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The results are quite disastrous when it steps away from farming concerns, resulting in a movie that's unforgivably clunky, tone-deaf, and dreadfully acted.

May 8, 2013 Full Review Source: Blu-ray.com
Blu-ray.com

a complex, intelligent film, poetic in its tragedy, and beautiful in its compassion.

May 4, 2013 Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews
Killer Movie Reviews

Works best when it sticks close to Henry, whose broad grin fails to mask a growing desperation. Quaid not only makes a believably corn-fed patriarch, but he captures the mien of one who is slowly ceding his soul...

May 4, 2013 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Groucho Reviews

Admirably avoids cheap pathos, and offers a glimpse into the sorts of lives often overlooked by Hollywood.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

The actors seem to have been asked to give very clipped, elevated performances, especially Quaid, whose character is a smarmy salesman. Efron, on the other hand, responds to every situation with his usual blank, dead-eyed stare.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Dennis Quaid nearly makes it worth seeing on his own and I have no doubt that the multi-talented Bahrani can bounce back but this modern farmer's tale is a melodrama that I simply didn't buy.

May 3, 2013 Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com
HollywoodChicago.com

[I]t works because Bahrani and Newton stay true to the characters' reactions to even something that might, upon initial impact, seem contrived.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies
Mark Reviews Movies

Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron simply do not have the gravitas to convince me that Henry and Dean are real people.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

Achieves an ideal sense of place, where a small community isn't all innocence and sweetness.

May 2, 2013 Full Review Source: RedEye
RedEye

This is a view of farm life that shows it to be far from what most people in the city imagine, abetted by outstanding performances of the entire cast.

April 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Tolucan Times
Tolucan Times

...despite its worthy themes, Bahrani has over stacked his deck with Henry's character while leaving too many questions with Dean's just as Quaid emotes to the rafters while Efron underplays.

April 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews
Reeling Reviews

The last thing one expects is that the film will morph into a grim melodrama.

April 26, 2013 Full Review Source: Leonard Maltin's Picks
Leonard Maltin's Picks

A movie about amateur race cars, sex in grain silos, murderous secrets, and Dennis Quaid's late-period acting crisis - only not as much fun as any of that sounds.

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Film Racket
Film Racket

Yes, it's a cutthroat world out there, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, except hide the bodies well. That's the takeaway from "At Any Price."

April 25, 2013 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Audience Reviews for At Any Price

A film about corn farming and other more depressing things.
May 4, 2013
How much does the American Dream cost? What is one willing to give up in order to achieve it? The answer is pretty much right there in the title of acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani's At Any Price, a brilliant morality tale that further establishes him as one of today's finest filmmakers. Bahrani's first three films, Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, and 2008's Goodbye Solo, told uniquely American stories through the lens of the immigrant experience. But here he turns his insightful eye on the small-town Midwest, where family legacy is of paramount importance, and success is measured by hard work and desire.

What happens when the next generation has no intention of following in the prior's footsteps? What happens when the pervasive influence of big business and steeper competition begins to encroach on one's ability to survive? In the heartland of Iowa, Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is a reasonably successful farmer, tending land that has been in his family for generations. It's his dream to be the top grower in the entire state, but he's constantly chasing after the top guy (Clancy Brown), who always seems to have the upper hand. After splurging on an extra 200 acres, Henry hopes to pass it off on his sons to tend as their own, but his oldest son Grant has skipped town for parts unknown, and his other son Dean (Zac Efron) has a dream of racing in NASCAR.
Henry wishes Dean were more like him, while Dean isn't as different from Henry as he thinks. They butt heads over everything, and Henry isn't exactly the most attentive listener. He's a salesman through and through, someone who puts on a false smile and is always looking for a way to close a deal. Taught by his father "When a man stops wanting, a man starts dying", Henry cheats on his wife (Kim Dickens) with the sexy Meredith (Heather Graham), and schemes to cheat the giant agribusinesses by reusing his genetically modified seeds. Dean enjoys his life as a big fish in a small pond, hanging out with his girlfriend Cadence (Maika Monroe) and racing the dirt tracks in hopes of winning a contract.

It's a simple story of family melodrama told in the classic, intimate style of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, or better yet, All My Sons. Bahrani has always been good at making the location an integral character in the story, unearthing the many truths and myths of the local culture. He explores, in much better fashion than Matt Damon's Promised Land, the soft underbelly of our farmer class. Swallowed up and twisted by the expanse of industry, what had been a respectable, fundamentally American building block is now just a cold business like any other. You either evolve or die. Destroy the farmer next to you, or be destroyed by him. Their dreams can never be allowed to stand side-by-side with yours. This obsessive need for competition is an integral piece of the intricate puzzle Bahrani weaves, and we see it play out between father and son in many different ways.

Dennis Quaid rarely disappoints, but he gives the performance of his already-great career. The charm we've come to know and love from him is there, but corrupted and phony. He's perfect in every single frame, and the film is made instantly better whenever he's on screen. Contrary to popular belief, Zac Efron can act when given the opportunity, and he does good work here when Dean is enjoying his time as a local celebrity. Efron doesn't do brooding malcontent quite as well when called upon, though. The real find may be Maika Monroe as Cadence. She's had a few small roles here and there, and will appear opposite Emma Watson in The Bling Ring, but her time on screen, whether it's with Quaid or Efron, are simply electric. Cadence is a girl many would presume has no future beyond the town's city limits, but she's smarter and more ambitious than is readily apparent.

Bahrani can get a little heavy-handed with the metaphors, and sometimes the melodrama steers into All My Children territory. A final act twist changes the complexion of the entire film in a bad way, piling on one final hurdle that is about ten shades too dark. Bahrani doesn't ask any easy questions, and certainly doesn't offer up any easy answers. Tough, engaging, and brutally honest, At Any Price is one of those quiet gems you hope others will have the opportunity to discover for themselves.
May 2, 2013
shogunt
Travis Hopson
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