60
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversRibisi and Macht are sleaze incarnate. James Caan, as a conniving lawyer, and Rade Sherbedgia, as a Russian crime boss, are even more cootified. Best of all is Wilson, digging into his juiciest role in years and putting a human face on this mesmerizing morality tale, a journey into the toxic heart of the American dream.
- 75USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigThink "Boogie Nights" meets "Casino," though it's not likely to make the lasting impression of either seminal film.
- 70VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthy"Boogie Nights" meets "Goodfellas" in Middle Men, a relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing tour of the bottom-feeding netherworld where porn and organized crime do their mutual bump-and-grind.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceBut for all that predictability, Middle Men is smart and tense, with each scene drenched in dread.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenThe Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenDecidedly stimulating in its own right, at least in the early going.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThis cranked-up drama wants it both ways.
- 50Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesChicago ReaderJ.R. JonesWith Mallick as one of the producers, this Boogie Nights wannabe benefits from an insider's knowledge of how online commerce was born but suffers from a seemingly endless voice-over by the Wilson/Mallick character steering our sympathies in his direction (it's the sort of middle man the movie could have done without).
- 50The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinLike Ribisi and Macht's miniature porn empire, Gallo's mildly diverting but overstuffed, underdeveloped opus could use the cinematic equivalent of a fix-it man like Wilson's character to transform its frenetic jumble of subplots and sleazy characters into a cohesive, satisfying whole.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSober and dispiriting, tense and morose.
- 40Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThis highly fictionalized look at the Wild West early days of Internet porn is off-putting in almost every way, with sledgehammer stylistic flourishes (incessant shaky-cam; a Rolling Stones musical cue as ironic comment) and dialogue that sounds like it was written in a testosterone-fueled haze.