The Barber

Seems like I like movies with the title the barber thoroughly enjoyed this film and the barber with malcolm McDowell. This film wasnt your knock down drag out action thriller or a gore fest serial killer film. It's a mystery thriller with a couple of decent twists and also features excellent performances by the cast especially mr Scott Glenn. I'm very happy we purchased the bluray as we'll watch it annually!! Very well written and directed with a average at best budget they did fantastic. Watch it or better yet purchase the bluray on Ebay cheap like we did.

Smart protagonist and smart antagonist- thats what makes this movie so great. An unceasing game of cat & mouse keeps the tension going through the story, with some nice plot twists and really good timing on the reveals. 5.9? REEEE diculous. This movies is far and away better than that score. I think ppl were looking for car crashes or nudity. Not w/ this one. Good dialogue, superb acting. Just a taut, smart little thriller. Worth every minute of your time.

My review will differ quite much from the others. I don't why this movie is so low rated..!! Yes, I think the ratings should be higher.

The movie slowly advances while revealing the characters true motivations with twisting at every corner. I have to say that, I haven't see some of the things coming. As the movie moves slowly, audience can get a little bored but the climax makes up for it fully.

"The watch trick" is something I truly liked. It was inevitable that a women will respond to it. 'The barber' has a charming and respectable appearance attracting "yummy" women.

The movie in total gives a view that it's the quite and innocent guys you won't see coming... ;)

With a fairly engaging back story, good overall acting, and plot twists that make sense / don't feel overtly contrived, The Barber has plenty going for it as a thriller. However, there's just something overall missing, something that could have probably made it a much better film.

The pacing is so-so; it doesn't drag and in fact there are a few points where I felt things were skimmed over leaving me guessing. The dialog, perhaps, is where things got lackluster. I just had a tough time empathizing with the main characters. I was definitely interested in what they were going though but I felt no emotional involvement.

Still, you could do a lot worse if you're looking for a bit of entertainment, and its darker themes may even leave you with some philosophical musings after the credits have rolled.

The main reason why I was curious about THE BARBER for years it's because it's one of the last movies where Scott Glenn played the lead and as I saw it I found it better than the tiepid 5,8 score. But it still has some problems, and we'll look them.

This is a movie split in two stories that eventually interwine. In the first, Chief Gary Hardaway (Stephen Tobolowsky) is looking for murderer Eugene Van Wingerdt (Glenn) known as the barber because he uses a straight razor for murdering his victims. In the second, a young wannabe killer named John McCormack follows Van Wingerdt as his mentor up until the truth comes out that Eugene was using him all the time. When the two stories interwine it's a bit too easy see where it's going but it's best if you see it for yourselves.

As I said, the acting by Glenn and Tobolowsky was good as usual with them. But I can see why some don't like it. First, you have to have high tolerance for gruesome atmospheres (if you saw and liked SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, RESURRECTION and the recently released LONGLEGS it will help) and second, the direction is at times unfocused. But taking it as it is, it's still a good thriller worth a view for fans of the genre.