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Critics Consensus: This adaptation of David Mamet's play is every bit as compelling and witty as its source material, thanks in large part to a clever script and a bevy of powerhouse actors.
Critic Consensus: This adaptation of David Mamet's play is every bit as compelling and witty as its source material, thanks in large part to a clever script and a bevy of powerhouse actors.
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (3) | DVD (17)
While the dark view of human nature and brutal dialogue might keep faint hearts from the film, the cast manages to individualize and humanize the pugilistic wordplay so that its expressiveness never veers into offensiveness.
For anyone who loves sharp dialogue, compelling characters, and a stinging social rebuke, Glengarry Glen Ross is not to be missed.
Mamet reveals his exceptional talent for writing almost poetic working-class vernacular, scores his major implicit thematic thrusts against the nature of the way business-at-large is conducted.
David Mamet's play about the wheelings and dealings of real-estate salesmen gets dedicated playing from a splendid cast, but gains nothing by the transfer from stage to screen.
Foley is as adept at managing this intensely psychodramatic material as he is handling an ensemble cast with the combined power of a runaway locomotive.
You can see the joy with which these actors get their teeth into these great lines, after living through movies in which flat dialogue serves only to advance the story.
Not an enjoyable watch, but in its own way it is exhilarating.
As an expression of a great script, it really can't be beat.
Head of the direction duties, James Foley, strings it together well, making it harmonise like the musical piece it has succeeded to be.
As you would expect from a Mamet play, the dialogue sizzles.
...the most effective big-screen translation of a Mamet stage play.
The overall film, writing and acting are so darn good that I watched it and then immediately started it over again.
Glengarry Glen Ross is one of the terrific exemples that a film, doesn't need expensive scenes with several settings, just a captivating and intelligent screenplay.
Super Reviewer
I was talking to a savvy old tech salesman on a rainy day in a Central Florida alcohol rehab when the conversation veered (as it always does with me) to film and this was the one that energized the life into him. He quoted the dialogue as if it were Bible. I had only heard of it years ago ... The cinematic equivalent of Baseball's All Star game, big stars lean big-time into the pitches thrown them in David Mamet's introspective look at the possible underbelly of "nice guy" sales people. Everybody gets a hit, a big play, and a grand time is had by all in this afternoon's entertainment vehicle very worthy of re-watching. Always Be Closing.
The story and dialogue paint a rich cast as a pack of wild dogs that have been desperately scavenging scraps to survive for so long that they've now mastered their individual approaches and will not hesitate to use anyone in order to stay in the game. It's one thing to simply give us the impression, but the writing here is so intelligent that we actually see their manipulative skill-set in one scene after another, armed only with words and knowledge of the human condition.
If you haven't seen or read the play, it will be hard to appreciate the film. Its loyalty to the play is its downfall at times since it feels rather restricted and one-dimensional. Nonetheless, the acting is great, the characters are dynamic, and the story is well-told. The highlights are of course Alec Baldwin's iconic scene and Al Pacino's performance. The cinematography is also well done.
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