Compliance (2012)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 129
Fresh: 115 | Rotten: 14
Anchored by smart, sensitive direction and strong performances, Complicance is a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that's equal parts gripping and disturbing.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 4
Anchored by smart, sensitive direction and strong performances, Complicance is a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that's equal parts gripping and disturbing.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 11,061
Movie Info
Becky and Sandra aren't the best of friends. Sandra is a middle-aged manager at a fast-food restaurant; Becky is a teenaged counter girl who really needs the job. One stressful day (too many customers and too little bacon), a police officer calls, accusing Becky of stealing money from a customer's purse, which she vehemently denies. Sandra, overwhelmed by her managerial responsibilities, complies with the officer's orders to detain Becky. This choice begins a nightmare that tragically blurs the
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Cast
-
Ann Dowd
Sandra -
Dreama Walker
Becky -
Pat Healy
Officer Daniels -
Bill Camp
Van -
Philip Ettinger
Kevin -
Ashlie Atkinson
Marti -
James McCaffrey
Detective Neals -
Matt Servitto
Supplier -
Nikiya Mathis
Connie -
Ralph Rodriguez
Julio -
Stephen Payne
Harold -
Amelia Fowler
Brie -
John Merolla
Customer -
Desmin Borges
Officer Morris -
Matt Skibiak
Robert Gilmour -
Maren McKee
Daughter -
Raymond McAnally
Portland Detective -
George Asatrian
Convenience Store Cl... -
Rebecca Henderson
Lawyer -
Jeffrey Grover
Television Journalis... -
Michael Abbott Jr.
Officer Jimmy Palmer -
Samuel Caruana
Kid with Dad -
Matthew Peter Murphy
Lawyer
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All Critics (129) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (14) | DVD (2)
A riveting, horrifying film, shot through with beautifully observed moments of unwelcome truth.
Top CriticCompliance is one of the toughest sits of the movie year 2012. But it's an uncompromising and, in its way, honorable drama built upon a prank call that goes on and on, getting worse and worse for the people on the other end of the line.
The point of Compliance, which caused walkouts and shouting matches when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, is how we are programmed to do things that go against our natural instincts as long as we believe we have the law on our side.
This is one insistent film, more evocative of human behavior than movies that take fewer risks ever could be.
Like a John Hughes movie hijacked by Roman Polanski, this troubling indie effort lays bare the sadomasochism of the American workplace.
A disturbing, fact-based look at the ways in which people can be bullied into bowing to the demands of authority figures.
It never loses sight of its goal to persuade us to be more aware, more questioning of our leaders and institutions, from politicians to priests to, in this case, the police.
The only film of 2012 that had me actively booing its villain - a mundane monster who doesn't need to touch his victims to scar them for life.
Compliance is a horror movie with no sudden frights, no gore, and not a single scream. It's a surveillance video, capturing us with all our blemishes; a reminder that how we see ourselves is so rarely in line with the truth
That the events in Compliance are taking place in a fast-foot restaurant is equally resonant. The junk food we see being prepared couldn't be more disgusting. Surely, you can't help but think, anyone prepared to swallow that will swallow anything.
The perfect companion piece to your copy of Fast Food Nation.
Compliance is a disturbing, exciting and instructive film about matters we should all be prepared to face.
Zobel is canny enough to gradually intensify the level of discomfort to ensure the characters' increasing irrationality feels honest in the situation, regardless of how out-of-whack it seems from a distance.
If a movie's success is measured by its ability to get under our skin and provoke a reaction, then this might be the film of the year. Designed to make us furious, this drama pushes us to the brink as we shout at the characters for being so naive.
A punchy and effective drama.
An effective, nasty little film from Craig Zobel.
An uncomfortable, provocative little drama that really gets under the skin and will not be for all tastes.
Well as the film is performed, particularly by Dowd as the manager attempting to make order out of chaos, you can scarcely credit what happens.
I admired its courageous realism, the fact that it dares to be unpopular yet truthful. Unlike most movies, it will give you plenty to think about.
The film edges forward diffidently, never quite matching strength of craft to strength of idea. It's creepily beguiling even so ...
Zobel's morality thriller offers uncomfortable commentary on the sport that can so easily be had at the expense of those on the lower rungs of the social ladder.
Zobel's feature film brings out the creepy, banal horror of this culminating event, and the awful contemporary insights.
Needs more than its "based on a true story" disclaimer to short-circuit our sceptical instinct.
It might make you a tougher person after watching it.
[It] leaves you in a dark moral place you'd really rather not be.
This is a squirmy watch - but of course, it is supposed to be.
Audience Reviews for Compliance
Super Reviewer
Can't believe this is based on real events and happened in over 70 states around America! But very interesting!
Super Reviewer
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- Marti: Van was a lucky man.
-
- Van: I did a bad thing...
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- Marti: You don't have a customer... I want you to clean, clean, clean!
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- Sandra: I'll do... everything that you need.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| RE: Critic Review - Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | 39 days ago | 2 |
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