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People I Know

People I Know (2002)

tomatometer

42

Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 30

The derivative plot fails to cohere or draw the viewer in.

41

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 10

The derivative plot fails to cohere or draw the viewer in.

audience

33

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 6,813

My Rating

Movie Info

A powerful behind-the-scenes man in politics and show business finds himself skidding into a very public scandal in this taut drama. Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) was raised in the deep South, attended Harvard Law School, and has devoted his spare time to progressive political causes since working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. However, Wurman now makes his living as a press agent and PR man, and while he's near the top of his profession, years of overwork, constant smoking and

R,

Drama

Jon Robin Baitz

Jul 20, 2004

Miramax Films - Official Site External Icon

Cast

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All Critics (59) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (32) | DVD (11)

The movie is weighted down with an excess of plot points that fail to coalesce.

June 11, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
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Watchable but dramatically scattered.

May 9, 2003 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
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Dropped into this ocean of bathos, even Al can't tread water -- at that precise moment, he and his performance drown.

May 9, 2003 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
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Trashy and lurid as this movie is, it's certainly not boring, and it keeps its star in hog heaven throughout.

April 27, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Magazine
New York Magazine
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Al Pacino gives a career-crowning performance under Dan Algrant's perceptive direction.

April 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Newsday
Newsday
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Miscast and badly thought out, People I Know needed more -- and less -- than it got.

April 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger
Newark Star-Ledger
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[Starts] off like a B-version of Sweet Smell of Success before ending like a C-version of The Parallax View.

July 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing

The good news is this is a remarkable reminder of how good an actress Téa Leoni can be. The bad news is she's only in the first third of the movie.

July 20, 2004 Full Review Source: FilmStew.com

After watching this depressing film, I felt as tired as Al Pacino's character looked.

July 11, 2004 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Pacino unleashes every trick in his actor's bag... The accent alone batters us into the back of the theater, making us want to go home.

June 18, 2004 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Intriguing but deeply flawed thriller.

February 5, 2004 Full Review Source: BBC

Eli is a modern-day version of a tainted weakling who has sold his soul to the devil, but would like to rent it back from time to time.

September 16, 2003 Full Review Source: Long Island Press
Long Island Press

O filme, que mostra uma Nova York onde o poder é exercido de forma opressiva e cujas noites escondem festas dignas de De Olhos Bem Fechados, traz Pacino em uma das melhores atuações de sua carreira.

July 25, 2003
Cinema em Cena

At one point, a character kids Eli about being 'moth-eaten,' but the term would be better applied to the film's crippling third act.

July 8, 2003 Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY
eye WEEKLY

Audience Reviews for People I Know

Though the films themselves stylistically are completely different, the basic plots of "People I Know" and "Carlito's Way" are the same. Here, rather than a gangster, Pacino plays a burnt-out publicist eager to escape his shady way of life but, like Carlito, doomed never to do so. The story doesn't ever really get going but the acting is an absolute treat, with Pacino giving an immaculate performance, truly one of his finest ever.
November 5, 2007
harrycaul

Super Reviewer

Oh Al.
July 21, 2009
lesleyanorton
Lesley N

Super Reviewer

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