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At Any Price (2012)

tomatometer

50

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 88
Fresh: 44 | Rotten: 44

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.

45

Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 17

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

37

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 3,643

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

Aug 27, 2013

$0.4M

Sony Pictures Classics - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (88) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (44)

The disappointment and malaise of a modern farmer's life comes through, but almost as an afterthought. As Bahrani makes clear, it's worth a more focused film.

June 21, 2013 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bahrani fills the frame with weathered faces and "At Any Price" feels like it unfolds in something close to the real America. But he wants to give us larger-than-life drama, and his strengths are life-sized.

May 24, 2013 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bahrani seems less interested in getting at the heart of a man who has sold his soul than he is in showing how the hard facts of modern farming have literally and figuratively changed the landscape.

May 17, 2013 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Written and played with a little more subtlety, Henry and his contradictions could have been fascinating; as it is, "At Any Price" keeps us at a distance, gazing at characters who never quite come to life.

May 16, 2013 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like the small farmers forced to kowtow to corporations, writer and director Ramin Bahrani chickens out. His melodramatic script reduces a global conflict to a Grain Belt "Glengarry Glen Ross."

May 16, 2013 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It clumsily showcases an environmental issue -- in this case, the corporate strong-arm tactics used to promote GMOs -- through routine interpersonal drama.

May 10, 2013 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

At Any Price has an interesting story at its core, but it's bogged down by undeveloped characters and sideplots, as well as a poorly-written third act.

August 26, 2013 Full Review Source: We Got This Covered
We Got This Covered

...feels like a great American tragedy, like East of Eden or Death of a Salesman. There's ... a fidelity to the way things actually work themselves out in the real world, in compromise and half-measures and moral doubt.

August 16, 2013 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Bahrani is striving for something epic and tragic - Shakespeare among the soybeans - but too often the film settles for merely melodramatic.

August 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Though Bahrani may be moving toward the mainstream here, he remains an empathetic, nuanced chronicler of the American working class.

July 24, 2013 Full Review Source: Film Blather
Film Blather

At Any Price isn't so much about race cars or corn as it is about what price we're willing to pay to protect what we love, and to keep our hopes and dreams alive. As such it's a fitting parable for our times.

July 24, 2013 Full Review Source: Movie City News
Movie City News

As is implicit in the title, the destructiveness of competition is a rippling concern in Bahrani and co-writer Hallie Elizabeth Newton's unpredictably expansive script.

July 24, 2013 Full Review Source: HitFix
HitFix

At its heart, the film is a small-scale story about two men learning how to fix their mistakes -- or, if that isn't possible, to live with them.

July 12, 2013 Full Review Source: Twitch

A thought-provoking and original drama that takes an intriguing look at the competitive nature of the agricultural industry.

June 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Big Hollywood
Big Hollywood

Dennis Quaid gives a deep performance of a shallow farmer who's obsessed with success. But the script for this unfocused, distraction-saddled heartland drama needed more cultivation.

May 31, 2013 Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

Dennis Quaid turns in a strong performance, but writer-director Ramin Bahrani's earnest but unfocused melodrama offers neither a compelling storyline nor a satisfying message.

May 31, 2013 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune
Times-Picayune

With Bahrani's assured direction squaring off against his ragged script, this proves to be a mixed bag of a movie, maybe worth seeing for reduced admission but not necessarily at any price.

May 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

Bahrani's evocation of place and culture is utterly convincing, even if his story seems to have gone before the cameras before it was quite ripe.

May 25, 2013 Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

It cheats you with acres of unharvested ambitions.

May 24, 2013 Full Review Source: The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger

while [Bahrani] did create a sociologic examination of an industry and culture that effects everyone, and educates the audiences, he didn't know how to end the story.

May 24, 2013 Full Review Source: AspectRatio.us
AspectRatio.us

... sporadically compelling drama, a lack-of-character study trashy enough for fun and thoughtful enough to be taken seriously.

May 24, 2013 Full Review Source: Tampa Bay Times
Tampa Bay Times

Maybe the writer-director found himself adrift in the corn fields.

May 24, 2013 Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer
Charlotte Observer

We don't need to love the characters to care for them but not hating them will help us build a bridge to apathy PDQ.

May 23, 2013 Full Review Source: Movies With Butter
Movies With Butter

A haunting portrait of the relationship between fathers and sons as being built on a foundation of intersecting interests.

May 23, 2013 Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Audience Reviews for At Any Price

Ramin Bahrani's At Any Price is an interesting film, often feeling authentic, and disturbingly insightful, while at other times feeling a bit disconnected with itself. The film centers on ambitious farmer and seed seller Dennis Quaid, and the relationship with his restless and disenchanted son, played by Zac Efron.
What I liked most about At Any Price was the film's tone. It was observant without being judgmental, poignant without being obvious, and almost clinical in its execution. The film was not entirely far from feeling like a Cohen brothers vehicle, with the characters finding themselves in ever-deeper situations. We are entreated to a family that on the surface seems to be embodying the American dream, but with a dark undercurrent of greed and corruption. It is populated by strong performances and interesting character dynamics, with Dennis Quaid having an undeniably strong performance.
On a technical level, At Any Price features beautiful cinematography, beautifully utilized framing, and a consistent pace. The problem, however, was the script, which was far from as polished as the rest of the film. Its dialogue felt stilted and often too-on-the nose. Had the caliber of actors not been lesser, it would have failed on its face. Quaid in particular struggled to really sell many of his lines, with his character being overly verbose, and the dialogue too strained, desperately trying to sell a quaint and folksy personality. Thus, while the film has a number of intelligent undercurrents, the scripts execution often undermines itself.
Despite its complete lack of polish and notable scripting deficiencies, At Any Price is still an effective drama, offering a good story, and ending on a rather compelling note.

3.5/5 Stars
August 31, 2013
Jeffrey Meyers

Super Reviewer

Man, Clancy Brown probably took this film at any price, because he hasn't been doing anything lately, or at least I don't think he has been, because the poor sucker has been trapped in the world of voice actors, so we never see his odd mug. Well, he could be doing worse, like Dennis Quaid, who might not be doing too bad when you look at his recent hit-miss ratio, but his career is going to need some work after a certain recent decision. Someone probably should have offered Quaid any price to not be in "Movie 43", and the disaster only cost about $6 million, even with its frustratingly star-heavy cast, so Quaid clearly isn't one to ask for all that much money. Oh yeah, Quaid joined "Movie 43" for cheap, and that makes his being attached to the project even more hard to forgive, but hey, I'd imagine he's on the right path to earning back respect with this film, which must be good, seeing as how it also features Zac Efron and Heather Graham, two people who make plenty of good decisions when it comes to films, like Dennis Quaid. Seriously though, I can joke all day about how Zac Efron was miscast, as he is just too pretty to handle the hardcore world of professional car racing, but Efron as Quaid's son is perfect, so Rotten Tomatoes' consensus has it right when it says that Ramin Bahrani has a really good eye for detail. Shoot, last thing that the guy did was a short film about a plastic bag that went on a revelatory journey with slightly philosophical and environmentalist thematic depth and the voice of Werner Herzog, so he at least has a great eye for detail when it comes to arthouse clichés. Don't worry people, this film isn't quite that avant-garde, and yet, as much as I liked it, it still has some questionable areas.

I joke about the compliments to Ramin Bahrani's attention to detail as a storyteller, but there is a certain thoughtfulness to this narrative that thins out rises and falls in plotting for the sake of delicately soaking up depth, and such a meditativeness in storytelling is often pretty effective in reinforcing what compellingness there is to this thin drama, but it leaves the film to limp a bit too much to its point, with only so much kick in atmospheric dynamicity to keep intrigue alive. There's enough entertainment value to this film for its steadiness to ever get dull, but the final product is consistently bland, to some extent, and as if that's not problematic enough, the much of what the film is so meditative on is a bit too familiar. Hardly anything is new about this film that ends up being driven by its formulaic conflicts and character types, and you can't help but notice that, not just because the film is, like I said, a bit too meditative upon its familiar narrative, but because the film has a tendency to take on histrionic tropes. I wouldn't say that the film is quite as melodramatic as certain other critics say, but make no mistake, on top of being formulaic, this film's story is plagued with questionable storytelling touches and, in some areas, moderately thin characters which dilute the genuineness of this pretty human drama. The film goes bloated with too much steadiness, too many familiar beats and too much overblown drama, and gradually loses steam that was so limited to begin with that the film rarely, if ever appears to stand much of a chance of escaping underwhelmingness, no matter how much Ramin Bahrani clearly wants this film to do better than it ultimately does. Bahrani's ambition often ignites an inspiration that in turn ignites a relative high point in storytelling, but most of what Bahrani is celebrating is questionable material, and that's a shame, because this film could have perhaps been more, yet is ultimately rendered too weak by its draggy, familiar, histrionic and overambitious storytelling to escape underwhelmingness. Nonetheless, the final product keeps you going as much as it can, at least from a visual standpoint, as it has some pretty settings, and a visual style that knows how to play up such pretty environments.

Alright, there's really not all that much that's especially special about Michael Simmonds' cinematography, but it is handsome, or at least knows how to capture handsome visuals, taking tasteful advantage of crisp definition and a tight scope to immerse you in the distinct and often lovely Iowa locations with a celebratory appreciation for the environment that ends up playing a hefty role in this drama. ...Okay, so, yeah, I'm making a bit of a stretch when I praise this film's locations, but there is something quite attractively simplistic about this Iowa environment, and that does more than you'd think in coloring up the film's enjoyability, though, as you can imagine, this film can't possibly run all that far on the backs of a good-looking presentation of good-looking settings. This film's story is something of a mess, or at least the telling of this story is, but there's still plenty of depth here, as the story boasts thematic depth that, while typically about as formulaic as most of the other aspects of storytelling, is noble, and often finds itself brought to life by undeniable highlights in direction, because even though the thoughtfulness in Ramin Bahrani's storytelling all too often does little more than thin out rises and falls in narrative structure, there are those moments in which Bahrani soaks up enough of the film's depth to create moving moments, some of which give you effective glimpses into what could have been. Granted, this film was likely never to be too much, as its subject matter is so messy, even in concept, and in execution, it's even messier, but not so messy that Bahrani can't to an adequate job of selling often thin drawn characters, who are, of course, sold more effectively by this film's pretty decent cast. Now, the cast isn't exactly filled with outstanding talents, and even if it was, there's not a whole lot of acting material to work with, yet most everyone has an opportunity to earn your investment, with Dennis Quaid being a relative standout with his convincing portrayal of a questionably drawn character with a couple subtle layers that Quaid sells about as well as he can. Some of the strengths that I just cited are a little bit stronger than a make them sound, and others are about as simply decent as I make them sound, but either way, the point is that there's not a whole lot of strengths to this film, yet there is charm, and plenty of it, so much so that the final product ends up being, not simply endearing, but pretty entertaining. I sure do wish that this film was more than simply entertaining, but the heart to this film is hard to deny, and when such ambition is done justice by highlights in direction and acting, you end up with a final product that endears as decent, if underwhelming.

When the price is paid, all you end up with is a draggy, formulaic, melodramatic and, of course, overly hopeful drama that ultimately collapses into underwhelmingness, but not so deeply that the attractive setting, - tastefully celebrated by Michael Simmonds' crisp photography - relative high points in directorial effectiveness, and inspiration in the performances don't do enough justice to charming ambition to make Ramin Bahrani's "At Any Price" an endearing little drama, though not exactly one to remember all that much.

2.5/5 - Fair
August 4, 2013
Cameron W. Johnson
Cameron Johnson

Super Reviewer

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Wrongheaded Critics: It's NOT about farming. 4 months ago 0

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