Compliance (2012)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 128
Fresh: 114 | 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: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 30 | 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: 9,136
My Rating
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 Clerk -
Rebecca Henderson
Lawyer -
Jeffrey Grover
Television Journalist -
Michael Abbott Jr.
Officer Jimmy Palmer -
Samuel Caruana
Kid with Dad -
Matthew Peter Murphy
Lawyer
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All Critics (128) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (14) | DVD (2)
A riveting, horrifying film, shot through with beautifully observed moments of unwelcome truth.
Compliance 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.
Zobel, a second-time feature filmmaker, has put together a skillful, sympathetic but unsparing re-enactment of a small-scale atrocity, and his cast plays it out with natural, understated performances.
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.
Examining how far people will bend over (literally, in this case) for perceived authority, Compliance has some potent moments, but it's let down by a nagging sense of implausibility.
Zobel's film shocks, but leaves the viewer to uncover the real story for themselves.
Audience Reviews for Compliance
Super Reviewer
Phillip Zimbardo in his book "The Lucifer Effect" shows how when average people are in the right circumstances, they are capable of incredible evils. If Zimbardo's theory were on trial, Compliance would be exhibit A.
Starting as an average day, local fast food employee Becky soon finds herself the victim of a prank call. One that should have easily been dimissed, but due to societal, occupational, & a variety of other pressures, is allowed to flourish into a full-blown case of sexual assault.
Through a constant establishment of authority & an acceptance of all responsiblity, this miscreant gains access and is allowed control of a group of people who are accomplishing his nefarious deeds; all whilst believing that what they are doing is simply a part of some banal protocol.
It is frustrating, maddening, and were it not a true story, damn near unbelievable. Yet, it speaks to humanity's power to overlook degradation as long as somebody else is calling the shots. A message as important as it is uncomfortable.
Super Reviewer
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- 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) | 3 months ago | 0 |
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