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People I Know

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People I Know (2003)

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Reviews Counted:51

Fresh:22

Rotten:29

Average Rating:5.5/10

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

Rated: R [See Full Rating] language, drug use, and brief sexual images

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 25, 2003 Limited

Synopsis: Al Pacino transforms himself into former all-star publicist Eli Wurman in Dan Algrant's PEOPLE I KNOW. Wurman is a southern-born onetime mover and shaker who is at the end of his rope--and his... Al Pacino transforms himself into former all-star publicist Eli Wurman in Dan Algrant's PEOPLE I KNOW. Wurman is a southern-born onetime mover and shaker who is at the end of his rope--and his career. His last major client, Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), is an Oscar-winning actor who has Wurman clean up his messes for him; in this case, Wurman has to get drug-addled television host Jilli Hopper (Tea Leoni) out of jail and back to California. But a detour leads Wurman into a secret sex-and-drug den filled with the rich and powerful--and also gets him involved in murder. PEOPLE I KNOW shares its fast-paced, winner-take-all, back stabbing world with SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, which also tore apart New York City's hot publicity world. The eclectic cast does a fine job, with Pacino and Leoni standing out. Kim Basinger has a supporting role as Victoria Gray, Wurman's former sister-in-law who offers him the chance to retire to a quiet life on a ranch, but Wurman first has to pull off a politically controversial fundraiser that is making a lot of people upset. [More]

Starring: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal, Tea Leoni

Starring: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal, Tea Leoni, Bill Nunn, Richard Schiff, Sophie Dahl, Mark Webber, Robert Klein, David Marshall Grant, Jon Hendricks

Director: Dan Algrant

Director: Dan Algrant
Screenwriter: Jon Robin Baitz
Producer: Michael Nozik, Leslie Urdang, Karen Tenkoff
Composer: Terence Blanchard
Studio: Miramax Films

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Release:

Jul 20, 2004

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • People I Know
  • Academy Award(R) winners Al Pacino (Best Actor, SCENT OF A WOMAN, 1992) and Kim Basinger (Best Supporting Actress, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, 1997) bring the star power to this powerful and provocative thriller! For old-school public relations kingpin Eli Wurman (Pacino), there's never been a crisis he couldn't fix or a scandal he couldn't handle ? until now! When Eli's best client (Ryan O'Neal -- MALIBU'S MOST WANTED) and his starlet girlfriend (Tea Leoni -- HOLLYWOOD ENDING) become tangled in a particularly messy situation, Eli ends up seeing more than he's supposed to. Now, the man who made it his business to know everything suddenly knows too much! With an unforgettable performance critics are calling one of Al Pacino's best, you won't want to miss a minute of this gripping motion picture.
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for People I Know

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    1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
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    N/R

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    Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
    04/09/04
    Guardian [UK]
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
    03/17/04
    Antonia Quirke
    Antonia Quirke
    This is London
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Derek Adams
    Derek Adams
    Time Out
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
    04/29/09
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Cinema Crazed
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
    05/16/03
    Jesse Hassenger
    Jesse Hassenger
    PopMatters
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
    01/29/03
    Rich Cline
    Rich Cline
    Shadows on the Wall
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
    05/28/03
    Stanley Kauffmann
    Stanley Kauffmann
    New Republic
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    In the end, he's not a person you want to Know, and this is not a movie you want to see.

    Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
    04/25/03
    E! Online

    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.

    Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
    07/08/03
    Adam Nayman
    Adam Nayman
    eye WEEKLY

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

    Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    07/11/04
    Betty Jo Tucker
    Betty Jo Tucker
    ReelTalk Movie Reviews

    Memo to whoever dreamed up this sympathy-for -the-publicist movie trend: Bad idea to begin with, definitely time to give it a rest.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
    04/25/03
    Bob Strauss
    Bob Strauss
    Los Angeles Daily News

    Rich in accrued, non-flashy detail and character potentiality, People I Know charts the lives of some vivid, interesting people. Narratively, though, it bites off more than it can comfortably chew.

    Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
    04/28/03
    Brent Simon
    Brent Simon
    Entertainment Today

    ...incredibly unpleasant on a purely visceral level.

    Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
    05/10/03
    David Nusair
    David Nusair
    Reel Film Reviews

    Awkwardly derivative.

    Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
    04/24/03
    Ella Taylor
    Ella Taylor
    L.A. Weekly

    The misshapen People I Know is not especially worth knowing. In fact, it barely seems to know itself.

    Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
    02/01/03
    Eric D. Snider
    Eric D. Snider
    EricDSnider.com

    Watchable but dramatically scattered.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    05/09/03
    Geoff Pevere
    Geoff Pevere
    Toronto Star
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Smushes together The Bonfire of the Vanities (the novel, that is), True Believer, and Eyes Wide Shut, only it does so without being nearly as good as any of the aforementioned.

    Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
    04/29/03
    Glenn Kenny
    Glenn Kenny
    Premiere Magazine

    Al Pacino as a Manhattan publicist with moral paralysis is talky and tedious.

    Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
    04/24/03
    James Rocchi
    James Rocchi
    Netflix

    It was filmed in and around the World Trade Center, and the subsequent cuts, reshoots and sleights of hand designed to obscure that fact prove devastating.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    04/25/03
    Jami Bernard
    Jami Bernard
    New York Daily News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Intriguing but deeply flawed thriller.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    02/05/04
    Jamie Russell
    Jamie Russell
    BBC
     
     
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