Guest of Honour

It is worth watching! One of my top five favorite movies by Atom Egoyan!

This story tells a complicated relationship between father and daughter. It is messed up, but it doesn't make me feel for the characters or the situation. I didn't find it engaging.

Used to be rabbit ears pulled in tv channels, now they are a coveted culinary delicacy. If nothing else, one always learns something from an Atom Egoyan film.

Consistently fine thespian David Thewlis as a complicated health inspector, carries "Guest of Honour" with the calm assurance, refined decorum, and meticulous deduction of Sherlock Holmes. Yet it is he who is the mystery. And as wonderful a performance it is (he really does carry the movie), the convoluted and twisty plot proves too benign and lacking, to do justice to foreshadowed expectations.

A forgettable and perplexing storyline involving his jailed daughter is awkwardly distracting at best, and out and out messy at worst. Slipping in a comedic Wilson brother (Luke) as a serious priest is admirable, but alas, serves to sabotage the dramatic flow.

Too bad, as the movie does indeed look great, and Thewlis is excellent, a commanding screen presence, delivering a perfectly nuanced role lacking a worthy supporting cast, and more importantly, a superior written vehicle.

• hipCRANK

I keep waiting for the day that Canadian films will find their voice. Seeing the wonderful David Thewlis in the lead role of Guest of Honour, I hoped for something terrific. I wasn't disappointed there. Thewlis is note-perfect as a mysterious and tortured man...a food inspector in Hamilton, Ontario of all things. I could watch Thewlis read the phone book, but when all is said and done, a compelling personality (and genuinely excellent cinematography), don't make for the lack of a coherent narrative. I still don't know exactly who did what to whom and why. The supporting cast is so-so. I could inhale the atmosphere and personality of this film...I just couldn't find the story.

Bitterly disappointing. Up until Felicia's Journey Egoyan was at the very top of his craft. Dense, intelligent storytelling, with considerable technical mastery, prefect mis-en-scene. Until that movie, he seemed perfectly willing and able to move towards the mainstream with skill. With the partial exception of Adoration, it's been downhill since. Guest of Honour is poorly executed, appallingly written, shows no skill whatsoever. Indeed, the one or two nice shots seem accidental. One big problem is his use of actors. Back in the early days he used actors who seemed to give his admittedly clunky dialogue a sense of gravitas - Gabrielle Rose, David Hemblen, Elias Koteas, Maury Chakin (sp?)....the new batch, Luke Wilson, Colin Firth, Ryan Reynolds, a succession of attractive but poor female actresses, simply don't cut it......the sublime brilliance and control of The Adjuster, Calendar and Exotica, the beauty of The Sweet Hereafter.....it's all gone now