American Pastoral (2016)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: American Pastoral finds debuting director Ewan McGregor's reach exceeding its grasp with a well-intentioned Philip Roth adaptation that retains the form, but little of the function, of its source material.
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Cast
as Swede Levov
as Dawn Levov
as Merry levov
as Lou Levov
as Jerry Levov
as Nathan Zuckerman
as Vicky
as Dr. Sheila Smith
as Rita Cohen
as Merry (12 years old)
as Sylvia Levov
as Agent Dolan
as Penny Hamlin
as Merry (8 years old)
as Bill Orcutt
as Jessie Orcutt
as Russ Hamlin
as Hamlin's Son
as Rabbi
as Freddy
as Young Guardsman
as Police Officer
as Hospital Nurse
as Guardsman #1
as Sanatorium Nurse
as Reunion Singer
as Harry
as Demonstrator #1
as Demonstrator #2
as Demonstrator #3
as Demonstrator #4
as Demonstrator #5
as Reunion Greeter #1
as Reunion Greeter #2
as Reunion Greeter #3
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Critic Reviews for American Pastoral
All Critics (106) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (83)
McGregor's directorial debut is a well-crafted drama but lacks the depth of Roth's masterful book.
I haven't read the book, but I'm guessing Roth brought more nuance and authority to its story of a New Jersey family in the 1960s and '70s than McGregor and screenwriter John Romano have with this cultural cartoon.
It might have fared better as a TV mini-series, where novelistic plot strands can be unpacked at length. McGregor is simply wrong for his role: He's too young, too modern, too smart.
The actors emote deeply and energetically, but there's a disquieting sheen of artifice.
It's a remarkably committed effort that takes a few seriously misguided turns along the way, even as its actors lunge at psychological depth with every scene.
There was reason to expect more from American Pastoral, and just as much reason to figure it was doomed from the start.
Audience Reviews for American Pastoral
Cheesy, contrived and heavy-handed in structure, it is made even worse by how it it shows leftist revolutionaries as insane psychos/imbeciles and by the way it tries with no success to make us sympathize with a passive protagonist who never reacts to what is happening in front of him.
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