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Casting About (2007)

tomatometer

71

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

audience

14

liked it
Average Rating: 2.4/5
User Ratings: 345

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Movie Info

In late 2000, filmmaker Barry J. Hershey set out to cast actresses for a dramatic film that he had co-written and intended to direct. The plan was to incorporate some of the casting footage into the fiction film, an idea arising from Hershey's first experience with casting at film school more than 20 years earlier. After reviewing the more than 70 hours of casting tapes, a decision was made to shape this rich material into a film of its own. The film presents footage of 184 actresses--from

Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.

Documentary, Comedy

Jan 8, 2008

Kino International

All Critics (17) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (6) | DVD (2)

This revelatory documentary lets us see what it's like to be an actress at an audition.

August 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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I thought I'd enjoy this, but it wound up giving me the creeps.

August 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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A fascinating and surprisingly involving film.

June 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
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A simultaneously dispiriting and inspiring portrait of the auditioning process that will be of great interest to actors and casting directors.

June 14, 2007 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
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I admired it and felt a little ground down at the same time.

June 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
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The most powerful moments find the movie surrendering to its female subjects' charisma, fixating on their hand gestures or settling into a static position, the better to watch a woman speak a stranger's words and become someone else.

May 14, 2007 Comment
New York Times
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[O]ne of the most striking [documentaries] I've ever seen...

January 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | Comment
Flick Filosopher

Casting About is less a documentary than a lyrical tribute to women in general. Strong women, confident women, nervous women, goofy women, beautiful women and just normal-looking women. This film adores them all.

September 21, 2007 Comment
Kansas City Star

Casting doesn't couch its message.

June 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | Comment
Los Angeles Daily News

Slowly evolves beyond highfalutin concepts like 'the craft of acting' into universal questions about surface beauty, inner depth and the double-edged sword of following a dream.

June 14, 2007 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | Comment
L.A. Weekly

Those viewers who tend to regard glasses half empty rather than half full will be appalled at what could pass for outright exploitation by the filmmakers.

May 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

This film stands as a tribute to the actresses who put their hearts on the line.

May 11, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A ready-made DVD special feature

May 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | Comment
Film-Forward.com

a wretched snooze

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

There's no insight here, only voyeurism, and one blisteringly fine German performer reading from [director] Hershey's appalling script.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

Casting About may be a definitive account of the cinematic audition process.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine
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