Vulture
God, I love Plummer's performance -- the twiddling fingers, the tipsy sway of the head, the reverberating roar.
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Barrymore
Academy Award winner Christopher Plummer portrays legendary Shakespearean actor John Barrymore in this adaptation of the acclaimed stage play by William Luce. Set in 1942, the final year of Barrymore's life, the film takes place on the stage of a Broadway theatre where the actor is struggling to recreate his performance in the title role of Shakepeare's Richard III.
No longer a leading box office star, Barrymore reckons with the ravages of his life of excess. He has rented the theatre to rehearse for a backer's audition, to raise money and revive his 1920 Broadway triumph. It leads him to look back on the highs and lows of his stunning career and remarkable life.
2012Rating: M, contains offensive language129 minsCanada
BiographyDramaLive Performance
- Director:
- Erik Canuel ('Bon Cop, Bad Cop')
- Writer:
- Erik CanuelWilliam Luce
- Cast:
- Christopher PlummerJohn Plumpis
Barrymore / Reviews
Variety
The material itself has a formulaic solo-bioplay rhythm neither performer nor director can fully elude.
Full reviewUrban Cinefile
In the hands of an actor of such calibre as Plummer, it is riveting stuff. And often hilarious, risqué, even coarse on occasion
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Slant Magazine
The endless repetitions of Luce's monologue grow quickly tiresome and, for all his half-baked efforts at expanding the context of his film, Canuel fails to deliver us from the inevitable hermeticism of the material.
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Hollywood Reporter
Despite some stylistic missteps, showcase for Plummer's Tony-winning performance will captivate theater fans.
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