Factotum

Name: Factotum
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: August 18, 2006
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 71
Cast: Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Matt Dillon

2006

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	Your Score
6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Ratings

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Factotum

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: August 18, 2006 | R

Starring: Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Matt Dillon

Summary: Based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, Factotum is the story of a man living on the edge; a writer who risks everything, tries anything, and finds poetry in life's pleasure and pain. (IFC Films)

Director: Bent Hamer

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer

Factotum is so sly and low-key hilarious that anybody can be in on the joke. Read full review

Anthony Lane

The beautiful joke of Factotum is that Dillon is nobility itself. Read full review

Scott Foundas

This is also an acidly funny work, even if the humor is that of a man who drinks to stave off the pain and madness of sobriety. In his finest performance since "Drugstore Cowboy," Dillon plays Chinanski with funereal grandiosity. Read full review

Sean Axmaker

Wry and dry. Read full review

Ray Bennett

Matt Dillon is pitch-perfect as Bukowski's alter ego Hank Chinaski. Read full review

Elizabeth Weitzman

Bukowski fans - and they are legion - may fill in the blanks from their own knowledge of the writer and find Factotum a more complete character study than it really is. For the rest of us, there are a few laughs - and a corking hangover.

Rick Groen

Embracing such depths, Bukowski somehow made his art. Simulating them, Factotum just makes us queasy. Read full review

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User Reviews

JanDC

Aug 24, 2006

Like it's been said, "writers cannot be successful if they're unwilling to let their hair hang loose and explore to achieve their best and ultimate inspirations! Indeed, a great stark and hilarious film.

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AlexanderC.

Aug 28, 2006

Another cult classic to add to the long list of cult classics from Matt Dillon, undoubtedlly the only icon of his generation and one of the best actors today. The film is ironic, cinic and crude and yet also beautiful, human and funny, simple and complex at the same time. True to Another cult classic to add to the long list of cult classics from Matt Dillon, undoubtedlly the only icon of his generation and one of the best actors today. The film is ironic, cinic and crude and yet also beautiful, human and funny, simple and complex at the same time. True to Bukowsky's soul and one of the best films of the yaer. A little jewel.… Expand

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mrbadhabits

Feb 17, 2022

Without a doubt see this movie unless a life on the edge is beyond your pay grade. It is for some, and will be for more in future, a cult classic. Maybe better to watch a Bukowski lecture first, as the person behind the story is essential to understand if it's not already obvious to youWithout a doubt see this movie unless a life on the edge is beyond your pay grade. It is for some, and will be for more in future, a cult classic. Maybe better to watch a Bukowski lecture first, as the person behind the story is essential to understand if it's not already obvious to you from the first 5 minutes. Yet for all the outrageousness of the character, which to some is not in fact so outrageous actually, there is an essential truth that is revealed slowly during the bulk of the story and, in case you missed it, it's laid out for you at the end. Expressing your creativity comes at a price, which is the risk of failure if you need others to acknowledge it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

ChadS.

Apr 19, 2007

When a man hits a woman, there's usually a second time. In "Factotum", it's one punch thrown by Henry(Matt Dillon), one thud on the floor by Jan the thud-maker(Lili Taylor). Unlike "Walk the Line"(the whitewashed biopic of country legend Johnny Cash), the filmmaker doesn't When a man hits a woman, there's usually a second time. In "Factotum", it's one punch thrown by Henry(Matt Dillon), one thud on the floor by Jan the thud-maker(Lili Taylor). Unlike "Walk the Line"(the whitewashed biopic of country legend Johnny Cash), the filmmaker doesn't want to portray their iconoclastic subject(Charles Bukowski) as a saint; this is an indie, after all, "Factotum" needs street(or at least, Sundance street) cred. But surely Henry Chinaski is prone to more than one violent outburst if he's some unrelenting drunk who can't hold onto a job. No drunk just hits the bottle; he'll hit jukeboxes, glass windows, and the corporeal flesh of bar patrons and fifty-cent whores alike, especially the fifty-cent whores. "Factotum" is episodic; it's nothing more than a meandering anthology of the women Henry happens to be shacked up with as he lurches from bar to crappy job to bar. Lucid or not, Bukowski/Chinaski had enough clarity to write "Factotum", the memoir that is the basis for this agreeable depiction of the infamous poet laureate of the streets. Dillon is good, but not great as Chinaski; or maybe, the filmmaker is at fault; maybe, he fell into temptation to myth-make. In place of genuine angst and other degrees of implosive behavior, he chose to uphold the romantic notion of a writer victimized by stampeding pink elephants; the pachyderms of proof. The elephants need thicker hides. Chinaski needs to be more tortured; more "Bukowski-in-a-china-shop"-like.… Expand

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ThomasM.

Sep 17, 2006

The acting is all top-notch, but this is a film that goes absolutely nowhere. Maybe that's the point, but if we are to be expected to remain awake throughout the films 94 minutes, some further revelations about this character might be in order. After 10 minutes, I knew everything about The acting is all top-notch, but this is a film that goes absolutely nowhere. Maybe that's the point, but if we are to be expected to remain awake throughout the films 94 minutes, some further revelations about this character might be in order. After 10 minutes, I knew everything about him that I was going to know. The rest was simply wallowing in the fetid path of this nearly moribund character.… Expand

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PaulK.

Aug 30, 2006

This is slow and nothing happens. There are no extraordinary performances either. Unless you're a diehard Dillon fan, skip it.

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CathyL.

Oct 15, 2006

This is the second worst movie I've ever seen.

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