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Infamous (2006)

tomatometer

72

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 145
Fresh: 105 | Rotten: 40

Though comparisons with last year's Capote may be inevitable, Infamous takes a different angle in its depiction of the author, and stands up well enough on its own.

71

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 11

Though comparisons with last year's Capote may be inevitable, Infamous takes a different angle in its depiction of the author, and stands up well enough on its own.

audience

60

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 19,179

My Rating

Movie Info

Douglas McGrath's Infamous represents the second major biopic about the avant-garde belletrist Truman Capote to be released within a year. It thus tells roughly the same story as Bennett Miller's earlier Capote, recounting the events that belied the writer's six-year authorship of the seminal "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood. The story opens with Capote (Toby Jones) visiting the site of the 1959 Clutter family homicide, on a Kansas research trip, accompanied by his close friend and colleague,

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Drama

,

Douglas McGrath, George Plimpton

Feb 13, 2007

$1.1M

Warner Independent

Cast

All Critics (145) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (41) | DVD (21)

Why did they go ahead anyway? Did they believe that an immense Capote audience was hungering for two films about him?

November 3, 2006 Comment
New Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Two good films about one subject [are] much better than a lot of bad films about different things.

October 17, 2006 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Jones gets everything -- the gestures, the generosity, the mean streak, the bending of the ear to recitals of woe, whether across a lunch table or a prison cell.

October 17, 2006 Comment
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film benefits from three splendid performances: Toby Jones as Capote, an aggressively gay elf exuding a tosspot charm; Sandra Bullock as Nelle Harper Lee, a novelist who uses spoken words with quiet precision, and Daniel Craig as Perry.

October 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | Comment
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a stellar cast, but you can't help but lament the bad timing.

October 13, 2006 Full Review Source: USA Today | Comment
USA Today
Top Critic IconTop Critic

No matter how noble the competitor, coming in second in a contest always feels like a lesser effort.

October 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A more rounded and just plain entertaining film than "Capote," thanks to its all-star cast and a marvelous Toby Jones

February 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Dearest | Comment
Movie Dearest

Better than Capote

August 28, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

This worthy second biopic of Truman Capote starts not with a bloodbath, but a cocktail.

July 2, 2009 Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | Comment
I.E. Weekly

Toby Jones' uncanny portrayal of the short, effeminate writer with the funny voice, gives the film its credibility and compassion.

April 24, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com

Only Sandra Bullock shines as Harper Lee.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | Comment
Boston Phoenix

Poor Toby Jones. In any other year, his work as Truman Capote would be in immediate awards contention.

February 12, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
TheMovieReport.com

With dyed hair and tattoos, Craig nails the incredible complexity of a man who juggles gentleness with violence. The relationship between Capote and Perry is overtly moving and there was a big lump in my throat as the final chapters played out.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Why not accept Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee? As it turns out, she's quietly terrific. Most of the supporting actors are.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

Mature drama follows author's quest for fame.

July 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Infamous doesn't feel like a remake. While it covers the same ground, the pitch is completely different. Where Capote was cool, distant and even antiseptic, Infamous is warmer and more emotionally fulfilling.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | Comment
BrandonFibbs.com

Una aproximación más bien superficial y declamatoria a Truman Capote y su investigación previa a A Sangre Fría. En comparación, la versión de 2005 sale mucho mejor parada.

December 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

About cold blooded media seduction, and an ironic reflection of how class differences in this country seal the opposing fates of individuals.

September 7, 2007 Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | Comment
WBAI Web Radio

To recreate the gossipy Manhattan arena that Capote navigated with such ease and documented with such malice, you need dialogue that rings like scatter-shot and the film's script, written by its director Douglas McGrath, doesn't have it.

June 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Comment
Sydney Morning Herald

Revela-se não somente desonesto, como decepcionantemente repulsivo.

June 1, 2007 Comment
Cinema em Cena

"About cold blooded media seduction, and an ironic reflection of how class differences in this country seal the opposing fates of individuals."

April 21, 2007 Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | Comment
WBAI Web Radio

The triad of performances by Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock and Daniel Craig keep it on its feet, but after a certain point it's stumbling aimlessly.

March 15, 2007 Full Review | Comment

For this film, it's the little pleasures---such as scenes of Capote writing and pages from legal pads stacked in rows---rather than the overall feeling and being engaged by it the entire time, which is a bit hard to do.

March 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Infamous

Toby Jones is truly great here, though shadowed by Philip Seymour Hoffman's fantastic performance in the far superior Capote - with which the comparisons are inevitable. However, this film suffers from many terrible documentary-like statements explaining what we can easily see.

November 6, 2010
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

Having seen In Cold Blood (1967) and Capote (2005) I thought I knew what to expect from yet another film treatment of Truman's novel. Infamous, however, was a pleasant surprise. This one brought to light a little more of Capote's terrific sense of humor and a slightly different perspective on his emotional

January 21, 2009
flixsterman
Randy Tippy

Super Reviewer

    1. Perry Smith: I sang and nobody listened, I painted and nobody cared to look, I killed 4 people and what happens? A work of art.
    – Submitted by Lars P (47 days ago)

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