Product Details

• Actors: Julianne Nicholson, Timothy Hutton, Will Arnett, Will Forte, Bobby Cannavale
• Directors: John Krasinski
• Format: Color, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: March 16, 2010
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0030Y11QA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,987 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

John Krasinski of THE OFFICE makes his acclaimed directorial debut with this adaptation of the book by David Foster Wallace. After being abruptly dumped by her boyfriend, a graduate student (Julianne Nicholson of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT) decides to interview a series of men about their reasons for behaving badly. What follows is an intimate portrait of the male species at their best, worst and most hilariously complex, confessing their desires, failures, frustrations and resentments. Academy Award® winner Timothy Hutton, Will Arnett (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT), Bobby Cannavale (WILL & GRACE), Will Forte (SNL), Christopher Meloni (LAW & ORDER: SVU), Chris Messina (JULIE & JULIA), Michael Cerveris (FRINGE), Frankie Faison (THE WIRE) and Krasinski himself star as just some of the interviewees in this darkly funny and savagely enlightening comedy/drama that electrified audiences at Sundance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful film- must see, May 9, 2010

By 

Hanna E. B. Henscheid (Iowa City, IA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (DVD)

In a year that has seen a surge of articles about a supposed "menaissance" and "men's studies" programs at universities, this film is especially timely. I read the book this film is based on last year, and I was so excited to see that John Krasinski would be directing it. The underlying thread that connects all the interviews seems to be, "how does treating people, yourself included, as less than or other than fully human impact you, your romantic relationships, and society?" Some of the scenes that I loved so much in the book were beautifully shot here- especially the bathroom attendant and John Krasinski's character's rant at the end. The addition of the character of the interviewer helped weave the individual stories together and gave more meaning to the film as a whole. If you have any interest in gender studies or psychology, this is a must-see.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite effective and powerful, August 17, 2010

By 

Noelle Eiram (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (DVD)

(I have not read David Foster Wallace's story collection "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men." As of yet, I have only seen John Krasinski's film of the same name and subject.)

This movie is viewed best as an overview of a certain mindset rather than of all men. It is comprised mainly of a series of interviews performed by a female interviewer (Julianne Nicholson). Male subjects include both strangers and close acquaintances. Nicholson is excellent, especially considering she is mostly silent. All women characters lack a voice here. This clearly symbolic reinforcement of women as objects and victims is interesting but also an easy evasion of creating the rare three-dimensional female characters.

The inconclusive interviews are, at times, frustrating. In fact, several cut off when the subject is about to confess his most important theory about himself or women. Perhaps the point here isn't so much what these men believe; it's that they believe they are right. Many stones are left unturned, as there really is only one general theme in a variety of guises, that of objectification. Here, male insecurities and self-hatred lead to misogyny. Men ruminate on the female mystique. One man describes objectification related more to race than gender. The pieces range from humorous, inoffensive, and light, to powerful and truly sickening; some are both.

'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' has received mainly negative reviews. In spite of its flaws, the movie is funny, disturbing, and, ultimately, intense.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Uneven Film Experiment Based On An Uneven Literary Experiment, January 5, 2011

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men (DVD)

Two things are clear from actor turned writer/director John Krasinski's debut film "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men." One is that Krasinski has deep regard for its source material, the challenging David Foster Wallace collection of the same title. And two, Krasinski clearly has friends in the entertainment community for this film is populated with a veritable "who's who" of familiar faces in even the briefest of roles. I suspect that, like the book, this is a piece that will divide its audience. I don't suspect that many people who've read "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" ever expected to see a film adaptation. A "love it" or "hate it" postmodern literary experiment, the book "Hideous Men" sometimes got lost in its own ambitions and cleverness. Brief snippets of story, sometimes with no discernable point or narrative conclusion, are told in a series of vignettes to explore the male dynamic especially in regard to his view of the female of the species. Some were terrific, some fell flat in this intriguing but exasperating work.

Krasinski, in his screenplay, tries to tie these stories together with the smallest of narrative hooks. Julianne Nicholson, representing every woman, stands as the film's central performance--a researcher studying the male perspective. Existing completely and only to tie the male stories together, however, her underdeveloped character adds little to the overall experience. Shot in outright interview sessions, observations from Nicholson's actual life and fantasy sequences and recreations--Krasinski pulls out all the filmic bells and whistles to unite this into a cohesive piece. He has talent and I'd be interested to see his next pursuit, but his version of "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" struck me more as an intriguing experiment as opposed to a fully formed film. Don't get me wrong, I admired many aspects within "Hideous Men"--it was just a bit all over the place for my taste.

Of the stories/performances (you will recognize just about every actor in the film--so there are too many to list here), several do stand out. Krasinski saves perhaps the best monologue for himself and is terrific delivering it. It is, however, a noticeably scripted piece and not remotely like actual verbal discourse. Dominic Miller gave my favorite performance as an unhinged student who challenges Nicholson. It has a power and surprise lacking from many of the stories. For example, Josh Charles does particularly well as a lothario but the segment offers little that we haven't seen countless times before. Like the book, the film has its stronger sequences and its less memorable ones. As a whole, though, I like the effort from an intellectual standpoint more than I appreciated it from an emotional one. KGHarris, 1/11.