Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 2
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 370
In this stark independent drama, Virgil (Clint Jordan) is a small-time thief with a bad temper and poor social skills who winds up in prison for armed robbery. But Virgil wants to make something better of his life, and when he makes parole, he's determined to get (and keep) a decent job, hoping to someday find a good woman and start a family. While living in a halfway house, Virgil meets Ruby (Kirsten Russell), a drug addict who sometimes turns tricks to support her habit. While Rudy isn't quite
Jan 22, 2001 Wide
Nov 26, 2002
First Run Features
All Critics (21) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (5) | DVD (1)
An overly familiar scenario is made fresh by an intelligent screenplay and gripping performances in this low-budget, video-shot, debut indie effort.
Too bad Maggio couldn't come up with a better script.
Shot largely in small rooms, the film has a gentle, unforced intimacy that never becomes claustrophobic.
Stale, futile scenario.
Raw independent drama with great naturalistic performances.
Proof that a newcomer indie filmmaker can infuse some new life into the Downtrodden Loser Character Study.
Although some of the secondary roles are awkwardly acted, the leads are impressive.
Director Joe Maggio's riveting film is blessed with a solid cast.
You've seen it before: the ex-con who stumbles while striving to assimilate back into society. But writer-director Joe Maggio and his able cast makes you care about this man's sorry journey in Virgil Bliss.
Shows moments of promise but ultimately succumbs to cliches and pat storytelling.
Virgil's naïveté isn't entirely believable, but his essential goodness is, thanks to a solid performance by Jordan, and that's really what makes this modern urban tragedy unusually affecting.
Low budget, high art and realism in this film about a convict getting out after a decade. The film has an almost documentary feel to it. Virgil is my favorite anti-hero since Silence of the Lambs. The big lug tries so hard to be good, and actually follows through on it, once he's released from prison. He's a
October 14, 2011
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