Auto Focus

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Auto Focus

R

2002

1h 44m

Biography

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

71%

Tomatometer

162 Reviews

61%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter (Willem Dafoe). This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.

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Critics Consensus

Kinnear and Dafoe help make this downward spiral of one man's life a compelling watch.

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David Ansen

Newsweek

Mar 12, 2018

The movie's themes are aptly captured in the double entendre of the title, suggesting both Crane's narcissism and the video technology that abets it...a lot of Auto Focus is coolly funny--it's a slyly satiric comedy of '60s manners.

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Oct 19, 2003

Another probing case history of male pathology from one of the most consistently interesting American film-makers alive.

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Linda Ruth Williams

Sight & Sound

Mar 4, 2003

An exemplary Schrader work, a painfully funny and misanthropic treatise on American masculinity and its sexualised image.

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Mitchell Beaupre

Paste Magazine

Jun 24, 2024

9.5/10

When you get to the final, haunting line of “men gotta have fun,” you know exactly why this is a Paul Schrader picture.

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Justine Smith

Vague Visages

Jun 5, 2024

Part biopic and part meditation on sexual addiction...

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Aug 29, 2021

3/4

A distant, even sterile, yet compulsively watchable look at the sordid life of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane.

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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 23, 2026

Auto Focus = a *3.5* star Movie!

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Julie D

@RT40892224 Aug 27, 2025

What makes the material work so well here is the perception that both writer and director choose to execute with its protagonist, which is not to provide overlying sympathy for him or his choices

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Shawna R

@Shawnarrr Aug 25, 2025

A distant, even sterile, yet compulsively watchable look at the sordid life of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane.

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Anson M

@Ansonmapants Jul 29, 2025

A distant, even sterile, yet compulsively watchable look at the sordid life of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane.

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DanTheMan 2

@DanTheMan2150AD Feb 1, 2025

Part biopic, part meditation on sexual addiction, Auto Focus may take its fair share of dramatic licence with the base facts of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane's life but remains a compelling watch with its light-hearted, almost campy tone; it's a film that gets to you like a low-grade fever, a malaise with no known antidote, a misanthropic treatise on American masculinity and its sexualised image. It can be painfully funny at times, but as the film goes on, Crane's personal life steadily implodes and professional life goes on the decline, a sense of darkness and desperation overtakes the film. Schrader directs with a very smooth hand, providing a good-natured and frequently amusing spin to eventually grim material that aptly reflects Crane's almost unfailing good humour. Even if you've never watched an episode of Hogan's Heroes, Auto Focus is worth a spin even if it's just for the flawless performances of Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. The film never does explain the whys behind Bob Crane's addiction, but it recounts the disease and its toll on the man in vivid, sometimes shocking and always fascinating terms.

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Alain E

@AlainE Jan 1, 2025

Well presented biopic of a minor show industry personality whose career was ruined due to sexual addiction. Starting with the clever introductory credits, the movie is very well photographed. There is a certain amount of nudity, but nothing offensive. Overall a sad story.

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Paul Schrader

Director

Greg Kinnear

Bob Crane

Willem Dafoe

John Carpenter

Rita Wilson

Anne Crane

Maria Bello

Patricia Crane

Ron Leibman

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Synopsis

A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane (Greg Kinnear) projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter (Willem Dafoe). This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.

Director: Paul Schrader
Producer: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Todd Rosken, Pat Dollard, Alicia Allain
Screenwriter: Michael Gerbosi
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Propaganda Films
Rating: R (Nudity|Language|Some Drug Use|Strong Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 18, 2002, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.1M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Surround

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