King of the Corner (2004)

hyped garbage

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

We saw this wonder little film on June 11th in San Francisco. Peter Reigert was on a radio talk show KGO with Ronn Owens and spoke about his career and his new film. We went to s screening of it on the weekend and it was delightful. He is trying to market the film and he appeared after all the showings to answer questions. We went to the noon showing and when the credits rolled he appeared in the audience and the Q & A began. The film was wonderful. A little movie with humor and a lot of heart. Peter Reigert fulfilled our request to have our VHS copy of one of his older films "Crossing Delancey" signed by him, which he did. We wish him the best on getting this film seen by serious movie goers. Good Luck Peter! It was great meeting you. You movie "King of The Corner" is special! Sincerely, Joyce & Brian (San Francisco Bay Area).

This movie exercised the full range of the viewer's emotions, yet managed to avoid resolving several major conflicts in typical Hollywood-type fashion. In short, it was an excellent movie for allowing viewers to incorporate their own experiences and ideas into interpretation of the story of a man at mid-life dealing with job, family, marriage and an aging parent. The story balances serious life issues with humor at just the right moments, leaving the audience fulfilled as well as entertained.The actors were first-class and the story provided a vehicle for them to ply their skills artfully. Blockbuster mentality wouldn't distribute films of this depth, but I believe audiences are hungry for them.

It is hard to tell just what the point of this film is. It seems it is about an advertising agency and the people working in the agency. It is also about the relationship of the star (Peter Reigert) with his father (Eli Wallach) who is in a nursing home in Arizona. It also has bits and pieces of other stories, the relationship of Reigert's daughter with her boyfriend and other trivia.My impression is that the writer wanted to make a movie, but did not have a story to keep the audience interested for an hour and a half so he seemed to try other ways to draw an audience by including such big names as Rita Moreno, Isabella Rosselini, Eli Wallach. He also made most of the principal characters Jewish, perhaps in hopes of drawing a bigger audience to a trivial film.I saw this picture in San Francisco, a city with a large movie going audience and the theater was almost empty. Although I did hear one woman laugh, most of the sparse audience appeared to be bored with the film.

Peter Riegert has been bringing this movie, which he directed and co-wrote, from city to city to build word of mouth. It's worth seeing if it comes to your town, especially if you like character-driven comedy/drama. Eric Bogosian steals the film as Rabbi Fink, and there's plenty of other good performances from a great cast which includes Isabella Rosselini, Eli Wallach, Rita Moreno, and Beverly D'Angelo. The story itself is pretty low-key, about an advertising executive (Riegert) coming to grips with a variety of mid-life issues, all delivered with gentle humor. Based on the title story from Gerald Shapiros's collection, "Bad Jews and Other Stories".