Fay Grim
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: May 18, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Plotwise, the film seems actually designed to repel logic, almost a parody of a spy film. But it's played with such verve and dash and confident flair that you'll have a grand time. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Clever, fast-paced and surprisingly moving. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
You won't see another film like Fay Grim this year, and we should give Hartley credit for making it work on his own terms. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
A sophisticated, sometimes intentionally silly spy thriller of international intrigue, Fay Grim charts the history of American foreign policy while commenting on current global complications with wink and a nudge. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Hartley is very adept with actors, though – or at least some of them. Posey, for her part, displays a pert quizzical quality that's very charming and very funny. And Goldblum is tailor-made for Hartley's minimalist patter. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
There's no other woman acting today that even remotely resembles Parker Posey. For that matter, there's never been anyone quite like her that I can think of. She has the dynamite improvisational instincts of a born grifter who wandered too far from one con and ended up in another – acting – and her tricky-risky game of onscreen three-card monte is, again and again, a jewel in indie filmmaking's oft-tattered crown. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Strikes me as something of an elaborate mistake, a wasted opportunity and a script Hartley should have discarded. But I liked it anyway. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The movie opens with wit and dash, then devolves into a rather generic spy thriller. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
While Fay Grim is too uneven to win Hartley many converts, it is laced with enough intelligence and wit to remind longtime fans why they were drawn to his unique vision in the first place. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Fay Grim falls victim to its own worried hyperactivity; it shuts you out with chattery paranoia. Hartley wants us to see the big picture, but he forgets we need artists like him to bring it into focus. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's not that Fay Grim isn't amusing. It is, in that deadpan, skewed way that indie auteur Hartley's pics always are. But there's not much else going on here. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It's a rich idea -- a Hartley-esque variation on the theme of American Innocents Abroad. And it works superbly until -- well, Grim's the word. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Sadly, there's a thin line between goofing irreverently on the maddeningly convoluted nature of spy thrillers and actually being a muddled mess, and Fay Grim crosses it constantly during its deadly second hour. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Too hip to play it straight and too cool to resort to an actual story, Hartley turns the whole rambling spy game into a puzzle box where every certainty is thrown into doubt, every character has a hidden motive, and every clue is contradicted. Read full review
50
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
Fans of "Henry Fool" in particular, however, may dislike the complete disregard for the characters of the original film. But the most fervent of Hartley followers can praise the film as a brilliant deconstruction of the tacked-on cinematic sequel. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Hartley's kooky cosmopolitan caper can never be accused of slumming, but the shift from dry, offbeat wit to politically charged drama is a little jarring, to say the least; it's a bit like taking in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" and having it morph mid-way through into "Shadows and Fog." Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A strange international odyssey that becomes more complicated and loony by the moment. Some viewers will undoubtedly tune out early, others will follow as far as they can -- and a privileged few might make it all the way. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Too light-headed to qualify as satire, too poker-faced to register as comedy, Fay Grim belongs in its own stylistic niche: the Hal Hartley film. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The involved backstory and Hartley's own generic music both prove burdensome; the main attraction is the cast's amusing way of handling Hartley's mannerist dialogue and conceits. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Fay Grim is like watching stoners playing Risk and Clue at the same time. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The result is that we feel deliberately distanced from the film. It is not so much an exercise in style as an exercise in search of a style. The story doesn't involve us because we can't follow it, and we doubt if the characters can, either. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In most every frame, Hartley takes pains to tilt his camera at odd angles – in other words, he's gone literally off-kilter, and it's just off-putting. What's worse, a further hallmark of the Hartley canon, his self-reflexivity, has begun to smack of self-promotion. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The faux espionage plot, with its winks at terrorism, is really just a convoluted plea for the relevance of precious indie artistes (i.e., Hal Hartley). Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
What happens, though, and what lures the film into disaster, is that Hartley lets slip his sense of humor (always his strongest asset) and begins to believe his own plot. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
As "Henry Fool's" belated sequel, Fay Grim seems nearly an act of desperation. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The trouble is, this is Hartley all over again. What seemed cutting edge and sharp in the 1990s -- the smart-alecky references to obscure filmmakers (Werner Herzog, Andrei Konchalovsky), the self-mocking tone in the actors' voices, the overall sense that this movie is subverting itself -- feels rehashed and old. Read full review
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