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The Dying Gaul (2005)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 67
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 34

Though it has a fine cast, The Dying Gaul's plot feels calculated and too intellectualized.

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 13

Though it has a fine cast, The Dying Gaul's plot feels calculated and too intellectualized.

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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 3,178

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Movie Info

An artist who compromises his work for money finds his heart and soul are also being toyed with by his new patrons in this drama. Robert (Peter Sarsgaard) is a playwright who has recently lost his longtime lover and business partner, Malcolm (Bill Camp), to AIDS-related illnesses. Robert has written a screenplay about their relationship, called "The Dying Gaul," and is interested in selling the project to powerful producer Jeffrey (Campbell Scott). However, while Jeffrey likes the script, he

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Drama, Romance, Art House & International

Directed By: Craig Lucas

Written By: Craig Lucas

In Theaters: Nov 4, 2005 Wide

On DVD: Mar 21, 2006

Box Office:$0.3M

Strand Releasing

The Dying Gaul Trailer & Photos

More Photos (9)

Cast

Critic Reviews for The Dying Gaul

All Critics (76) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (37) | DVD (8)

The Dying Gaul isn't dead on arrival. But its death throes are only as interesting as the actors, characters and dialogue can make them.

December 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

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Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

The film plays for keeps: It hurts and it doesn't back away from messy questions about art, commerce and conscience.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News

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Chris Vognar

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

The movie always feels as if it's on the verge of a major discovery. It ends without convincing us that any such discovery has been made.

December 2, 2005 Comment

Robert Denerstein

Denver Rocky Mountain News

Top Critic

The Dying Gaul begins with a Herman Melville quote: 'Woe to him who seeks to please rather than appall.' Let them serve not as words of wisdom, but of warning.

December 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Denver Post

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Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

[E]xcept for some problems in the middle act, the movie is easy to swallow.

November 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Like minimalist composer Steve Reich's prickly, tense music on the soundtrack, the movie itself is too often too intellectual, experimental and abstract.

November 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Top Critic

An absorbing, fascinating film, but disturbing and a little grim.

April 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Cinematical

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Jette Kernion

Cinematical

Sound silly? Well, it is, plus pass� (as so many techno-concerned conceits soon become), self-indulgent and nihilistically nasty in tone.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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David Noh

Film Journal International

Like an accomplished swimmer, this little film has its graceful moments, but the third act is marred too much by the equivalent of quick cannonballs into the deep end of the pool.

March 29, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

finds it difficult to infuse humanity into a character who essentially functions as a dramatic device

March 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

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Nick Schager

Filmcritic.com

In the end, the film is only of interest for members of the Campbell Scott Honorary Gay Man Society.

March 15, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

Lucas' use of chat rooms as a plot-moving device is pretty hackneyed, and when the story takes a thriller-like turn in the third act, it feels really forced.

February 17, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Rob Thomas

Capital Times (Madison, WI)

The Dying Gaul has the tight, nailed-down structure of a good play. But it's the actors who really lift the movie above the shortcomings of its plot.

February 7, 2006 Full Review Source: MTV

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Kurt Loder

MTV

Verbally well-matched, morally ambiguously fascinating together, they are exciting to watch.* All three leads give extraordinary performances.

December 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Cinerina

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Karina Montgomery

Cinerina

Almost every time Gaul threatens to be overwhelmed by its maudlin tendencies and need to be 'about' something, it's rescued by its delicious sense of cruelty.

December 17, 2005 Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly

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Steve Schneider

Orlando Weekly

It's his heavy-handed and often ludicrous plotting that is the film's downfall.

December 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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Jeff Vice

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The one thing Greek tragedy shouldn't desperately want is any kind of catharsis.

December 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central

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Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

Has neither hero nor villain, only humans. Beyond imperfect, they are complicated thinkers, lovers, dreamers, and performers.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Stina Chyn

Film Threat

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Dying Gaul

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Simply simply gorgeous gorgeous movie about well, the usual - love, lust, betrayal, integrity, Buddhist philosophy, dead lovers communicating through the internet, murder by horticulture. You know, the usual. It's also, of course, a subtle and snide satire on the movie industry, a passionate treatise on sexuality and

March 20, 2009