Do you want to see ‘The Air I Breathe’?

The Air I Breathe (2007)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 3.8/10
Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 22

The Air I Breathe is a jumbled indie production that accomplishes little save for the squandering of a talented cast.

Average Rating: 3.3/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 8

The Air I Breathe is a jumbled indie production that accomplishes little save for the squandering of a talented cast.

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 21,753

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Movie Info

Four stories, representing the emotional principles of love, pleasure, sorrow, and happiness, come together in this episodic drama from first-time director Jieho Lee. A powerful crime boss, Fingers (Andy Garcia), subtly controls the destinies of four people whose circumstances have brought them to a crossroads in their lives. A quiet business executive (Forest Whitaker) is told that an upcoming horse race has been rigged and bets everything he has on his belief that the story is true. A noted

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Drama

Directed By: Jieho Lee

Written By: Jieho Lee, Bob DeRosa

In Theaters: Jan 25, 2008 Wide

On DVD: May 6, 2008

ThinkFilm

Each story has its moments, but Air lacks an overarching vision.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: USA Today

| Comment

Claudia Puig

USA Today

Top Critic

Brendan Fraser is Pleasure, Sarah Michelle Gellar is Sorrow, Kevin Bacon is Love, Forest Whitaker is Happiness, and the director is Pretension.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Post

| Comment

Kyle Smith

New York Post

Top Critic

I can't fault any of the actors for anything other than bad judgment. Their performances are fine, but a good fortune cookie might have told them to stay away from this.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Daily News

| Comment

Jack Mathews

New York Daily News

Top Critic

A stew of cheap irony, ponderous but meaningless allegory, violence and pretension, the movie is all borrowed style and calculated pandering. It does, however, get more ludicrous by the minute. So in that sense, it's good for an occasional laugh.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Carina Chocano

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

With any luck, The Air I Breathe should be the last gasp of the faux-Altmanesque school of serendipitous storytelling.

January 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsday

| Comment

Gene Seymour

Newsday

Top Critic

Morosely pretentious.

January 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Ronnie Scheib

Variety

Top Critic

Pretentious in its tone, ambitious in its goals, and incompetent in its execution, The Air I Breathe is a polluted mess despite its good intentions.

January 4, 2012 Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews

| Comment

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

As the plot strands begin to coalesce everything becomes far too overwrought.

June 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Eye for Film

| Comment

Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

The movie takes itself way too seriously, and it doesn't add up to much, but, nevertheless, it's borderline entertaining.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly

| Comment

J.B. Mitchell

Orlando Weekly

Your appreciation of this circular plotting will have a great deal to do with how tongue-in-cheek you believe the film is

February 11, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Theatre Wire

| Comment

Brandon Judell

New York Theatre Wire Source: New York Theatre Wire

Mr. Lee is a former director of Asian music videos, which explains why his debut feature, from the high-octane opening credits to the Marnie-esque ending, is all style and no substance.

February 3, 2008 Comment

Marlow Stern

Manhattan Movie Magazine

A perfectly awful example of a certain breed of American indie film that brings together a lot of familiar faces for an ensemble drama about...nothing.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Metromix.com

| Comments (3)

Geoff Berkshire

Metromix.com

None of the four morality plays ... are necessarily original in plot, nor is the film itself particularly innovative in its structure ... it just seems flat and useless.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinematical

| Comment

Christopher Campbell

Cinematical

Aside from demonstrating how liberation and change can occur even at the most dire turn of events, it's not exactly clear exactly what his overly ambitious drama is trying to say.

January 25, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

Ken Fox

TV Guide's Movie Guide

not a nihilistic work of cinematic art, but a laugh-out-loud slapstick free-for-all.

January 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Paul Brenner

Filmcritic.com

Four unappealing mini-dramas about happiness, pleasure, sorrow, and love.

January 24, 2008 Full Review | Comment (1)

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

Ah, January, hallowed dustbin for projects half-baked, too cooked, or both, as in the case of this overstuffed actioner.

January 24, 2008 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly

| Comment

Ella Taylor

L.A. Weekly

It's particularly frustrating to watch Whittaker, the strongest thespian of the bunch, desperately mine for gold in a narrative landslide.

January 23, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Press

| Comment

Eric Kohn

New York Press

[Jieho] doesn't know what to do with actors, however, and the film's impressive ensemble is wasted.

January 23, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

| Comment

Rex Roberts

Film Journal International

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Air I Breathe

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Yet another done-to-death, serendipitous, connecting-the-dots kind of movie. Only reason I walked into this one is because of the names Kevin Bacon and Julie Delpy in the cast sheet, and their bit parts were over within the blink of an eye. Apparently the movie is based on some kind of theory that life revolves around

July 31, 2011

Sajin P A

Super Reviewer

a strong cast and the lead characters all portray an emotion...... The four chapters are titled Happiness, Pleasure, Sorrow, and Love, each has a main character known only by the chapters title.... happiness (Forest Whitaker) a down on his luck man who attempts to find happiness in a shady gambling hall, where

January 11, 2011

♥Robyn M♥

Super Reviewer

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