King of the Corner

I screened this film at its Kansas City opening and found it an enjoyable and revealing tale of family life and a slice of modern Americana with more that one surprise and twist along the way. It is a film of depth and subtle textures that engages the audience by layers as it explores the personalities and relationships that propel the central characters through their lives. Peter Reigert and Isabella Rossellini turn in sensitive performances with a wonderful counterpoint provided by Eli Wallach in the role of the family patriarch.

Reigert's direction is cogent and trim, based on a literate, thoughtful script by Gerald Shapiro.

Peter Reigert has been a treasure to film buffs as far back as Animal House,Crossing Delaney and wonderful other character parts that have made his presence on screen feel like an old friend. Like many others, I had the privilege of seeing a preview of this movie followed by a short interview with the man himself. He minimized his involvement in the film, as being little more than someone who 'knew people in the industry, and 'they needed me to make a couple of phone calls'- But Reigert earned his presence in this film and was dead on as the man in the middle of a mid life crisis, walking through his life much like his dad. Self examination doesn't come easy for his character, but when it does, Reigert unleashes a poignant and emotional performance. Kudos to Eli Wallach. Listen carefully, there is dialogue here that sets this movie apart and gets all of us thinking.

First comment: People, don't forget to submit a vote with your review! I'm reading the reviews and most are excellent, and I'm wondering why the overall rating is only a 6.3. Then I see a lot of excellent reviews with NO VOTE! I assume these are counted as ZEROs in the rating.

REVIEW - I saw this movie at the Philadelphia Film Festival on 4/16/2004. I thought it was very good - both sad and funny. My favorite part was the interaction between the main character, Leo (Peter Riegert) and his father (Eli Wallach). Eric Bogosian was also very funny as the rabbi. And although her part was small, it was worth seeing how great Rita Moreno looked - Wow, she looks amazing! She made Isabella Rossellini look like a haggard old frump. The daughter was nothing special, and the weakest link was the up and coming business hot shot played by Jake Hoffman (Dustin Hoffman's son.) He was too young and goofy to play a ruthless guy moving up in the business world.

It's a shame that a bittersweet comedy like this that combines elements of different genres and can't be easily characterized as a "Drama" or a "Comedy" or a "Tearjerker" will have trouble finding an audience. Hollywood's marketing people need to do a better job of finding an audience for these films - there are tons of people who want to see movies like this, and they are too lazy to figure out how to market them. It's easy to market to teenage boys - do a little work and figure out how to reach the audience who wants to see movies like this! The only scene I thought was a little unrealistic was the scene I'll simply refer to as the "underwear" scene. As the scene was going on, I thought maybe it was going to be revealed as a dream sequence - it just seemed like such a strange and out of character thing for Leo to do.

I would love to see this movie find its rightful audience. Many people would enjoy this movie.

I am a film student at Columbia College in Chicago, recently I had the chance to view a screening of King of the Corner. My God was it Hilarious and greatly acted. King of The Corner has to be the best movie I have seen in a long time. This is the type of movie the reeks true American Filmic Artform, and kicks the basic Hollywood nonsense right in the prunes.

It is the story of a middle aged Jewish man named Leo that is facing a mid life crisis in work, his marriage and his relationship with his father. In every circumstance, the result was a very smart, funny and intelligent climax. I don't want to talk too much about the story for fear of giving too much away and I am also not a great "critical writer" so I don't want to turn anybody off to the film. But I will say that the cast and the performances were unbelievable. Eric Bogosian plays a Rabbi in probably the funniest role i have ever seen him. Dominc "Uncle Junior" Chianese from the Sopranos is perfect in his role of a funereal director, Jake Hoffman is perfect as a weasely occupational subordinate, Rita Moreno and Beverly D'angelo are both perfect in smaller roles that fit in perfectly. But one of the best comedic performances I have seen in a long time, was Pete Riegart the director who was excellent in the title role.

I really cannot believe that he pulled it off as a writer/ actor/ director! But he did this with flying colors and I am pretty sure this film will be the first in a series of really good films with solidly built characters and plot. You will laugh and laugh hard.

Peter Riegert's feature directorial (and screenplay writing) debut and I'd say it was auspicious. He's assembled a great cast: Isabella Rossellini, a wonderfully curmudgeonly Eli Wallach, Eric Bogosian, with the usual quality work from Riegert himself, and a nice comic performance from Dustin Hoffman's son Jake. It has the feel of a European film: humor, pathos, manic comedy, more than one touch of wisdom and insight. This is a little fable that never loses its touch with reality, though in the way of many comedies it goes off the rails once or twice. Great ensemble work from Riegert and the entire cast--the film has a philosophical viewpoint, and yet is not afraid of showing real emotion. Highly recommended.