Ham on Rye

Name: Ham on Rye
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: October 23, 2020
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Adam Torres, Audrey Boos, Blake Borders, Cole Devine, Gabriella Herrera

2020

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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2.4

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2.4	User Score Generally unfavorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Factory 25 | Release Date: October 23, 2020 | TV-14

Starring: Adam Torres, Audrey Boos, Blake Borders, Cole Devine, Gabriella Herrera, Gregory Falatek, Haley Bodell, Luke Darga, Sam Hernandez, Timothy Taylor

Summary: A bizarre rite of passage at the local deli determines the fate of a generation of teenagers, leading some to escape their suburban town and dooming others to remain.

Director: Tyler Taormina

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 85 min

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Critic Reviews

The Playlist Jessica Kiang

Jan 20, 2021

Ham on Rye is not obviously political, but it is also deeply political, pointing out, in lazy, absurdist, carelessly clever frames a deep-set American wrongness that was quietly murmuring away long before the current blowhard moment, and that will continue long after. Read full review

Chuck Bowen

Oct 19, 2020

The film’s purposeful archness challenges the sentimentality that marks many a film and real-life ceremony. Read full review

Glenn Kenny

Oct 22, 2020

Taormina purposefully dresses his cast and designs their environment in a way that throws them into a sort of temporal never-never land. He achieves a number of other startling effects in this impressive movie, which sheds its naturalism slowly as it embraces a surrealism that’s both disquieting and poignant. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jan 7, 2021

The film never behaves as if it is anything other than a realist coming-of-age drama but there is something else going on. Read full review

Ty Burr

Oct 21, 2020

Ham on Rye will frustrate literal-minded audiences, but it’s a work of gentle, genuine American surrealism — a lo-fi love song to those left behind by character and chance. Read full review

IndieWire Ryan Lattanzio

Oct 28, 2020

While the narrative hardly goes into the fully unhinged direction it teases, it’s pleasantly askew and always marching to its own strange and, slightly off, beat. Read full review

John DeFore

Oct 23, 2020

Quiet and carefully made but cryptic, it relies on the viewer to complete its metaphors. Read full review

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User Reviews

beebo42

Mar 1, 2021

What did I just watch? It's an interesting idea, but horribly low budget and amateurish. There's only one character that seems to have any training in acting, and most of the dialog feels improvised in a bad way. Worse yet, the premise is only worth about 20 minutes, max. So it had to beWhat did I just watch? It's an interesting idea, but horribly low budget and amateurish. There's only one character that seems to have any training in acting, and most of the dialog feels improvised in a bad way. Worse yet, the premise is only worth about 20 minutes, max. So it had to be padded out with long drawn out shots of...nothing!

The theme of the movie (such as it is) is that once you graduate high school you either discover your purpose, meet your soulmate, and begin your career.... or you just get left behind to waste away in your small home town. None of your old friends stay in touch, all of your dreams fade, and even your own family seems disappointed in you somehow. You only get one shot to succeed in life and you can miss it in the blink of an eye.
Again, I like the premise but 2001's "Ghost World" explores almost the exact same themes but done a hundred times better. For anyone interested in this idea, please don't waste 120 minutes of your life on this movie like I did. Go watch a young Scarlett Johansson in "Ghost World" instead.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

ChrisWatches

May 5, 2021

I agree with beebo42. This should have been a short. This could have actually worked with a 15 or 20-minute runtime. It's a classic example of the critics watching too many movies and rewarding anything "out of the box" even if it doesn't work. I get that critics are bored with conventionalI agree with beebo42. This should have been a short. This could have actually worked with a 15 or 20-minute runtime. It's a classic example of the critics watching too many movies and rewarding anything "out of the box" even if it doesn't work. I get that critics are bored with conventional filmmaking, but this having an 80 score is absurd. Retire if coherent cinema no longer does it for you.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

chris12198

Aug 17, 2021

Ham on Rye is a meaningless examination on white suburbia. Every second was pointless and all of the good faded away by the 40-second mark. You can sit a lead singer of an indie band (with 16 monthly listeners on Spotify) down with a computer complete with a screenwriting software programHam on Rye is a meaningless examination on white suburbia. Every second was pointless and all of the good faded away by the 40-second mark. You can sit a lead singer of an indie band (with 16 monthly listeners on Spotify) down with a computer complete with a screenwriting software program and even they couldn't muster up something as pretentious and shallow as this garbage. No scene felt memorable, or at the very meaningful and deserving of our time, and some day-in-the-life films can be interesting and movie (see Richard Linklater's filmography), but for the characters of Ham-on-Rye, not a single character was worth the time spent with them. It baffles me how many soaring reviews this film has. Take it from me and the other Metacritic users and do NOT waste your time.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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