Roger Dodger
Artisan Entertainment | Release Date: October 25, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It is Scott's work as the savagely articulate Roger, a tireless would-be seducer, bottomlessly self-confident and oblivious to rejection, that is the film's glistening and provocative centerpiece. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Funny, sad, and skeptical in about equal measures, it announces writer-director Dylan Kidd as a filmmaker with a bright future. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Kidd, a first-time writer and director, has created a sophisticated but intriguingly toxic comedy of manners. Read full review
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Takes both its characters and the audience to the depths, but it's a journey Kidd redeems with wit and fluency and, ultimately, a deeply persistent humanism. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
One of the juiciest male characters to pop up in an independent film this year. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Mines laughs from the ways in which its antihero's reductive philosophy consistently goes kerflooey in his face, but there's a weary sadness to it as well. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Revives the art of smart, scathing movie conversation as it skewers Manhattan's singles scene while providing a goodly number of laughs. Like its subject, the movie may have its prickly moments, but it's awfully fun to watch. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Sly, sophisticated and surprising. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Experiencing this film is like hurtling down a verbal slalom. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A little too programmed in its despair, but it coasts along on the jagged music of the modern lothario's song. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Scott owns the film from scene one. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
All three performances are excellent, in their different ways.
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Campbell Scott's fiendishly mercurial performance as razor-tongued womanizer Roger is a revelation but it's only one of this nimble film's pleasures. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Rookie writer-director Dylan Kidd, late of NYU film school, knows how to get the best out of jittery, handheld camera shots, and he knows how to go for the jugular. Roger is the bleakest comic portrait of misogynist self-delusion we've seen in a long time. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
There are times when the movie's entertainment value verges on the scandalous. [4 November 2002, p. 110]
80
SalonJeff Stark
There's a maddening ambiguity at the core of writer-director Dylan Kidd's remarkably cynical, and bracingly intelligent, debut movie. It's the kind of thing that is just nasty enough to start arguments in cafes and bars. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
Kidd has a great ear for dialogue, and he throws in a few unexpected twists. But the real fun is watching an established pro and a newcomer run with the script. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The dramatic arc of Roger Dodger may be banal, but Kidd manages some marvelous moments. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Clever, exceptionally well-written film. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
An unusually smartly written and performed American independent film. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie, written and directed by Dylan Kidd, depends on its dialogue, and like a film by David Mamet or Neil LaBute has characters who use speech like an instrument. The screenplay would be entertaining just to read, as so very few are. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Thanks to Scott's charismatic Roger and Eisenberg's sweet nephew, Roger Dodger is one of the most compelling variations on "In the Company of Men." Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A delight for anyone who loves to absorb dialogue. The movie is almost all talk and no action, and possesses the "feel" (although not the pedigree) of a stage production translated to the screen. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Campbell Scott swings at one of the year's juiciest roles and knocks it out of the park. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
The final third is slower until a somewhat contrived finale that's still the funniest thing in the movie. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
I was with Roger Dodger all the way until its vile hero had an 11th-hour burst of insight that defied all belief. I didn't buy it, but I do want his therapist's phone number.
70
VarietyRonnie Scheib
fFts into that weird, dialogue-heavy quasi-genre that includes "In the Company of Men" and "The Business of Strangers" where high-stakes sexual power games mix with cutthroat office politics. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Flags as it heads toward a moralistic ending, complete with a couple of contrived (albeit charged) sexual encounters, but it's heartening that it soars as long as it does. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Starts as a tart little lemon drop of a movie and ends up as a bitter pill. I'm glad to have seen it, for I appreciated Campbell Scott's dominant performance and Jesse Eisenberg's breakthrough. But I hope writer-director Dylan Kidd mixes less acid into the next drink he pours. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
In the end, Roger Dodger doesn't really add up to much. Guys can be jerks when they're lonely, or even when they're not. It's not news. But Kidd's version of this truth shows he's a writer worth watching. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The result is a long night of confrontations that feel heavily rehearsed and unlikely. There are some good moments, but I didn't believe any of this. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The movie's third act begins a baffling and not-very-believable character turnabout. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
First-timer Dylan Kidd's film isn't Molièrian in its misanthropy, but rather as boneheaded as an hour of talk-radio hobgoblin Tom Leikis. Read full review
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