Infamous
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: October 13, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Infamous gives you the unique opportunity to see how two sets of filmmakers can take exactly the same story, make extremely tough though different choices in emphasis and tone and achieve brilliant movies. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Less a parable of literary ethics than a showcase of literary personality, and it is in the end more touching than troubling. Read full review
90
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Jones gets everything--the gestures, the generosity, the mean streak, the bending of the ear to recitals of woe, whether across a lunch table or a prison cell. He even nails the voice, like that of a chorister caught running a racket with the incense. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle Smith
Dizzy with celebrity, New York society and gay life (if all that isn't the same thing), Infamous is more fun. But "Capote" is a better movie. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Infamous is the better Capote film, yes, but also the less easily digestible one, the more eccentric one and -- yes -- the gayer one. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Though it's not as good as the brilliant "Capote," it's nevertheless a riveting, well-made picture. Read full review
80
EmpireWill Lawrence
While less beguiling than "Capote," Infamous remains a soulful and searching portrayal of the writer, carried with immense charm and vivacity by its leading man. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Infamous successfully captures a sense of the loneliness of a writer's life. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
"Capote" is the more intellectual of the two films; Infamous is the more emotional. They exist to complement, not eclipse, one another. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Ultimately, the problem with Infamous isn't that it revisits Capote's turf--it's that it does the same things well, and leaves the same unsatisfying holes. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's a stellar cast, but you can't help but lament the bad timing. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Overall, McGrath's film has superior star power (including Gwyneth Paltrow in a one-scene role as a Peggy Lee-like chanteuse), is franker about the sexual nature of Capote's fascination with the murderous Smith and his sad, strangled dreams, and spends more time establishing Capote's glittering New York life before setting him adrift in the heartland. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
I don't know if that makes Infamous a better movie, but it's certainly as good and a lot more fun. British actor Toby Jones is so physically right in the role, you'll think Capote is playing himself. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Watch Infamous on its own. It's a worthy film in its own right, with its own virtues. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The pleasure of Infamous is in its gallery of larger-than-life portrayals. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
"Capote" is serious, deep and unadorned in the manner of the 1967 movie adaptation of the writer's true-crime novel "In Cold Blood." And Infamous boasts the high-gloss frivolity of the 1961 film version of Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Neither movie (Capote/Infamous) gives you the whole picture, but it's fun to see them both and rearrange the pieces in your head. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Rooney
Writer-director Douglas McGrath's boldest stroke is to impose a more overtly gay interpretation on a central relationship in which the attraction was generally supposed to be unspoken. Read full review
70
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
It's just a lesser version, light in weight and absent the ache that permeated the movie for which Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Academy Award. It can't withstand the comparisons. It's good, especially during its first half, just not good enough. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The film benefits from three splendid performances: Toby Jones as Capote, an aggressively gay elf exuding a tosspot charm; Sandra Bullock as Nelle Harper Lee, a novelist who uses spoken words with quiet precision, and Daniel Craig as Perry, a deluded monster who is nonetheless forthright and strong. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
McGrath says that he considers his film to be lighter in tone than TC 1, which is baffling. The reverse seems the case. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The added value that writer-director Douglas McGrath has in mind is gossip -- and a goggly interest in gossip becomes the glittering gimmick of Infamous. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Compared to "Capote," this new film is altogether lighter. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The only difference between the two films is that this one chronicles Capote's New York environment in more detail (and with humorous interludes), and it's a tad lighter in tone and perhaps a bit less high-horse condemning of its subject's literary ethics. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A garish and fascinating little movie that comes bouncing in the wake of Bennett Miller's "Capote" like a yipping puppy trying to keep up with an elegant show dog. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The film's most pleasing surprise is the beautifully nuanced portrait of Capote's confidante, "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee, by Sandra Bullock. You heard me. Bullock gives the film what it otherwise lacks: the ring of truth. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Though stylistically all over the place, it's not without interest. Read full review
63
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Understanding what McGrath is trying to pull off is not the same thing as McGrath pulling it off; as ambitious as it is, Infamous falters in execution too often to create a lasting impression. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Flashy, fun, shallow, easy-going and without a hope of brilliance. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The problem is that the first half of Infamous is nowhere near as comic as McGrath intends. Instead the picture gives off a tone of arch stylization that plays as artificial, overwrought and off-putting. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Infamous has dramaturgical strengths, whether or not it gets the facts right. Jones's performance as Capote tends to be delivered in a monotone, yet thanks to Craig all of their scenes together are potently realized. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It bears roughly the same resemblance to the Bennett Miller-Dan Futterman-Philip Seymour Hoffman masterpiece as the now-forgotten "Valmont" did to "Dangerous Liaisons." Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Infamous, which mines almost the exact same ground as "Capote," comes up 300 days late and artistically close to bankruptcy. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
McGrath makes literal what the other movie only hinted at -- that Perry falls in love with Capote -- turning the relationship between author and subject into something far less complicated and more mundane. Read full review
More From This Movie

68 Critic Reviews

8.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL