Fay Grim (2007)
44 %
Reviews Counted: 82 Fresh: 36 Rotten:46 Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus:
Fay Grim is too concerned with its own farcical premise to present a coherent, involving story.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Theatrical Release: May 18, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $61,817
Synopsis: Hal Hartley's 1997 film HENRY FOOL tells the story of Simon Grim (James Urbaniak), a garbage collector in Queens whose burgeoning talent as a poet is spurred on to greatness by Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan), a failed novelist with a shady past. Though the film gave Hartley art-house success, it was an... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Parker Posey, Jeff Goldblum, Leo Fitzpatrick, Chuck Montgomery
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Hartley pretzels his faux spy plot into "Syriana"-like knots and ends up with a fascinating if somewhat flawed absurdist romp.
Comment
05/05/08
The nicest surprise of the movie is how long and how well Fay Grim works as a contemporary screwball comedy, a genre from which Hartley's diffuse yet severe sense of irony would seem to disbar him.
01/03/08
Posey's fans will love her performance, even if they have a little trouble following the rather contrived adventure ... which is so talky, it's tiresome.
08/22/07
Luckily, there is Hartley's immense wit to carry it through, but wit can be a dangerous gift, especially when the capacity to be clever overwhelms all else.
07/10/07
It's odd, endearing and weirdly funny for an hour, and after that it's a bit of a self-conscious mess.
06/23/07
Overall, though, Fay Grim only occasionally connects with the viewer. It is a film so caught up in its own cleverness and cheekiness that -- despite the solid work by its cast -- it forgets to make you truly care about its characters.
06/22/07
The story is deliberately perplexing, and while the logic of the serpentine narrative surely makes sense, Hartley is more concerned with the cadences and rhythms of the spy movie itself.
06/14/07
"Fay Grim" is the most inarticulate and grueling of all Hal Hartley's films, and a complete waste of time.
06/07/07
A stunningly abysmal sequel to 1998's very interesting Henry Fool. Even the appealing Posey can do little to redeem this totally misguided, convoluted disaster.
06/03/07
In the end, it turns out to be an interesting film, but it takes forever to work up enough steam.
06/02/07
Oy Fay! Starts out a winner but takes a left turn in Europe and turns out pretty Grim.
05/30/07
Fay Grim is less concerned with the details of contemporary spy-craft and global deception than with broader moral questions.
05/30/07
Movie sequels rarely work as well as literary serials, but the Henry and Fay movies have the ring of a satisfying trilogy in the making.
05/25/07
Top Critic
Hartley has been on a spotty run; his last film to get a proper theatrical release in Portland was made nearly a decade ago. But he recovers nicely with this witty, crackpot comedy about love, espionage, trust and secrecy.
05/25/07
The involved backstory and Hartley's own generic music both prove burdensome; the main attraction is the cast's amusing way of handling Hartley's mannerist dialogue and conceits.
05/25/07
Top Critic
"We don't buy for a minute the motivations behind any of the large number of characters, and Posey is nowhere near able to carry the movie."
05/25/07
[Director Hartley] has a solid lead in Posey, who's amusing, especially as her character gains confidence and as she begins to turn the tables on the duplicitous Fulbright and others.
05/24/07
A fun whirligig of a thriller that comes dangerously close to killing the buzz from its idiosyncratic delights, but manages to survive (mostly) intact.
05/22/07
Related Forums
Hal Hartley's FAY GRIM will be released in theaters, on HDNet TV & DVD: May 18, 2007!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
Hal Hartley's FAY GRIM will be released in theaters, on HDNet TV & DVD: May 18, 2007!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
Hal Hartley's FAY GRIM will be released in theaters, on HDNet TV & DVD: May 18, 2007!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
Hal Hartley's FAY GRIM will be released in theaters, on HDNet TV & DVD: May 18, 2007!
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/24/07
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