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The Gingerbread Man (1998)

tomatometer

73

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

27

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 4,282

My Rating

Movie Info

Robert Altman directed this John Grisham tale that begins at a party where Savannah attorney Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) celebrates his successful defense of a man who shot a local cop. The partygoers include his ex-wife Leeanne (Famke Janssen), the mother of his two children; his law partner Lois Harlan (Daryl Hannah); and caterer Mallory Doss (Embeth Davidtz). After Mallory finds her car stolen, Rick gives her a ride home where things turn sexual. Attracted to Mallory, he learns that her

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Robert Altman

Jan 11, 2000

PolyGram Video

Cast

All Critics (48) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (16) | DVD (2)

Robert Altman the up-and- down director meets John Grisham the constant mediocrity. Just where, in our hypothetical picture, should we place that unlikely scene?

April 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
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Altman had a fine time composing difficult shots, through screens, bushes and sheets of rain, and Chungwei's images, sometimes delicate, sometimes harsh, stick with you long after you've forgotten their context.

February 14, 2001 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
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If you like movies more than you do John Grisham, you can leave the story behind and listen to the filmmaking master class that Altman conducts on the screen.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Houston Chronicle
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There's great pleasure in watching a movie in which the director has thought out everything beforehand.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
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Unless one counts a few running gibes against lawyers that can easily be imagined coming from Grisham, Altman basically chooses to treat this hackneyed story straight.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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With unexpected success, Robert Altman plays a John Grisham mystery in a seductive new key.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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An underrated atmospheric thriller from Robert Altman

February 24, 2004 Comment
Lawrence Journal-World

A pulp melodrama in denial.

June 6, 2003 Full Review | Comment
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

The performances are great.

December 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Altman and his great cast make the most of the material and deliver a solid movie.

November 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Little more than 120 minutes of nifty storm sounds.

June 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine

The unlikely pairing of John Grisham and Robert Altman proves rewarding for both partners.

January 28, 2002 Full Review Source: Movieline | Comment
Movieline

Altman has done something much better: he took what could have been a generic movie, and by investing artistry and effort, he made it into something more.

February 27, 2001 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Gingerbread Man

There is so much wrong with "The Gingerbread Man" that it's no wonder Robert Altman was threatening to disown the film upon it's release. After a bitter fight with Universal over, well, the entire outcome of the film, Altman's sensibilities as a director are scarcely recognizable. Still, the film wouldn't have even

May 5, 2011
stevenecarrier
Steven Carrier

Super Reviewer

Altman concocts what may have been a good thriller, but forgets to add the thrills. This is certainly not his genre. Why show us somebody trying to make a phone call to someone and building it up so much when we know that person hasn't got there phone? Especially when it cuts back to the shot of the phone more than

February 29, 2008
kiriyamakazou

Super Reviewer

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