Do you want to see ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men’?

Add to Netflix

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (2009)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 36
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 22

Ambitious but uneven, John Krasinski's adaptation of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men tries hard but doesn't match the depth of the book.

Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 9

Ambitious but uneven, John Krasinski's adaptation of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men tries hard but doesn't match the depth of the book.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 2,786

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

Adapted from the book by David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men tells the story of Sara Quinn, a graduate student in anthropology who's left feeling lost after her boyfriend breaks up with her and offers little explanation as to why. With her dissertation looming, Sara begins a project to interview men, all sorts of men, trying to unearth the mystery of their bizarre behavior. As her personal life and her academic life continue to mingle, Sara uncovers some strange and

Unrated, 1 hr. 20 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: John Krasinski

Written By: John Krasinski

In Theaters: Sep 25, 2009 Wide

On DVD: Mar 16, 2010

IFC

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Trailer & Photos

More Photos (12)

Cast

Julianne Nicholson
Sara Quinn
John Krasinski
Ryan/Subject #20
Bobby Cannavale
Subject #40
Timothy Hutton
Professor Adams/Subject...
Dominic Cooper
Daniel/Subject #46
Christopher Meloni
R/Subject #3
Lou Taylor Pucci
Evan/Subject #28
Will Forte
Subject #72
Michael Cerveris
Subject #15
Malcolm Goodwin
Father of Subject #42
Josh Charles
Subject #2
Frankie Faison
Subject #42
Clarke Peters
Subject #31
Will Arnett
Subject #11
Denis O'Hare
A/Subject #3
Rashida Jones
Hannah
Ben Shenkman
Subject #14
Joey Slotnick
Tad/Subject #59
Chris Messina
Subject #19
Max Minghella
Kevin/Subject #28
Corey Stoll
Subject #51
Benjamin Gibbard
Harry/Subject #20
Pucci Ben

Critic Reviews for Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (22) | DVD (1)

Faced with the unenviable choice between honoring his daunting inspiration and telling his own story, the director shoots straight down the middle -- and misses both targets.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: NPR

| Comment

Ian Buckwalter

NPR

Top Critic

Offers is the opportunity for a bunch of actors, many of them tethered to TV series, to deliver theatrical monologues pulsing with misogyny and narcissism. It's like second-rate Neil Labute.

November 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

| Comment

Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

I worry that this film is static enough and stiff enough that it's going to keep people away from discovering David Foster Wallace if they haven't read him.

September 28, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comment

Michael Phillips

At the Movies

Top Critic

Tthough this experiment doesn't quite succeed, there's enough intelligence and insight in this movie to make it worth the attempt.

September 28, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comment

A.O. Scott

At the Movies

Top Critic

[Krasinski's] generosity of intent is really the main impression that remains. He read, he loved, and unfortunately, he did not conquer.

September 28, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Mary F. Pols

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Actor John Krasinski deserves credit for having the ambition to adapt material as difficult as David Foster Wallace's short stories.

September 25, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Daily News

| Comment

Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

...far more successful as an actor's showcase than as a fully-realized movie...

December 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Intense look at gender and relationships is best for adults.

December 30, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

| Comment

S. Jhoanna Robledo

Common Sense Media

John Krasinski takes a distinct, deliberate step away from romantic comedies for a darkly comic look at human interaction.

March 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Moving Pictures Magazine

| Comment

Annlee Ellingson

Moving Pictures Magazine

Everywhere this poor lady tries to go, there's always a guy or two loudly performing a David Foster Wallace monologue within earshot.

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly

| Comment

Sean Burns

Philadelphia Weekly

Painfully pretentious and shallow.

November 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat

| Comment

Mike McGranaghan

Aisle Seat

Krasinski re-creates the interviews using Wallace's original, but this isn't exactly a letter-of-the-law adaptation -- he tightens the interviews and defangs some of the language.

November 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle

| Comment (1)

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

The place where consciousness runs into itself is where this author reigned supreme, and Krasinski brings Wallace's concentric, self-aware ironies to the screen.

November 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix

| Comment

Jason O'Bryan

Boston Phoenix

The movie provides more questions than answers.

October 31, 2009 Full Review Source: Christianity Today

| Comment

Lisa Ann Cockrel

Christianity Today Source: Christianity Today

A haunting exploration into men's minds that becomes too much of a psychological study to qualify as accessible entertainment for most.

October 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics

| Comment

Ron Wilkinson

Monsters and Critics

Too awkward, disjointed and bland while lacking dramatic momentum and true insight.

September 27, 2009 Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru

| Comment (1)

Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

Krasinski literalizes Wallace's stylistic love of asides too much, but it helps that he's aware enough of his movie's limitations to keep Brief Interviews blessedly short.

September 25, 2009 Full Review Source: AV Club

| Comment

Noel Murray

AV Club

The Penis Monologues!

September 25, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze

| Comment

Kam Williams

NewsBlaze

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

View All

A woman interviews men about their relationships with women and feminism.Throughout most of the first act of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men I had no idea where it was going, and worse, I didn't care. Julianne Nicholson acted like Julianne Nicholson usually does - awkward and lost, drawn to expectation and thwarted

November 27, 2011

Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

Boring.

September 27, 2010

Megan S

Super Reviewer

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Quotes

View All

No quotes approved yet for Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Character	Quote
	Enter quote here...	Delete

DVD

Top Rentals

29%	The Vow
93%	Mission: Impossible Ghost Protoc...
87%	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
28%	Underworld Awakening
85%	Chronicle

More…

New On DVD This Week

65%	The Woman in Black
25%	This Means War
94%	The Secret World of Arrietty
36%	Red Tails
88%	Certified Copy (Copie Conforme)

More…

Latest News for Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

September 24, 2009:

Critics Consensus: Surrogates Is A Passable Thriller
This week at the movies, we've got robot clones (Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis and Radha...

View All