Absolutely Brilliant!

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Blistering performances.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

First off, I'd like to say I'm an enormous Hartley fan. So many friends and people whose opinion I respect seem to think his later films ("Amateur" on) are lousy compared to his earlier ones. But from what I've seen, it's entirely the opposite. While "No Such Thing" fumbled and had a pointless second act, the first and third acts almost made up for it. "Amateur" is haunting and beautiful, and "Henry Fool" is flat out brilliant. But this...this is just poor.I agree with other comments on here - stupid dialogue, "too-cool" music selection, and an assload of pretense. The characters, if you can call them that, are flat, one-note, and horribly rendered by actors with absolutely no chemistry (although, I guess that's "the point," which is equally pretentious). If it wasn't for the beautiful photography and terrific anamorphic transfer, this DVD would have been an entire waste of money.

The power of the movie camera is its voyeuristic capabilities, peering in at various affairs, public and intimate, of people portrayed by actors. It is undetected by them as they go about their business. Hitchcock brought this metaphor to life in Rear Window as Jimmy Stewart peered into his neighbors' lives with his camera. There is, however, a school of film-making that breaks from this model; let's call it the nudge-nudge, wink-wink school of film-making. In this style the actors are all aware of the camera, behaving not naturally, but rather in a posed way, a way that says, "Look, I'm doing this for you, the viewer." Films in this school often feature stilted dialogue and wooden acting. If this is a style that you enjoy, then Simple Men is for you.

Like Mr. Hartley's other movies, this film manages to balance humor, romance, drama, emotion, and action. It has a vaguely surreal air to it, wherein the events are plausible, but could only happen on those strange, unsettled days of the year when the sky can't decide whether to rain or not. There is also a bit of camp mixed in.Also like his other films, Simple Men is quite idealistic, yet without being sappy or 'feel-good' in a cheap or simplistic way. This is a subtle movie, and I found I had to watch it a second and third time before I truly appreciated it. It's hard to compare it to anything else except Hartley's other movies, especially the excellent Henry Fool. I recommend it highly.

"Simple Men" is one of my favorites -- great acting, dialogue, and a bizarre plot, plus a great deal of ironic humor. One of the most attractive things about Hartley's films, however, is especially striking in this one -- the haunting and memorable background music. After this, see "The Unbelievable Truth." I'm looking forward to "Monster," which I hear also stars Robert Burke.