With an outstanding screenplay by Brian Koppelman and disciplined direction by Koppelman and David Levien, a story that could have been generic (or worse, scented with flowery bulls---) turns into a precise, honest, and affecting drama
It offers audiences the pleasures of a screenplay whose every acerbic line is firmly rooted in character, and it hands Michael Douglas one of his best roles in years
a needlessly sly movie about the kind of problems that preoccupy people in show business-becoming sexually undesirable, not spending enough time with the kids, etc.-but Douglas makes all the contrivances feel like universal, soul-testing dilemmas
by Peter Travers [Rolling Stone ]
by Joe Neumaier [New York Daily News ]
