The ending is like twisting the knife after you've been stabbed - opening up all kinds of necessary philosophical scrutiny about the crazy fucked up way we peel away... or impose... arbitrary definitions of our personal identity. Mamet's dialogue thankfully doesn't get in the way here, although some of the bit players' acting certainly does. Otherwise a hidden classic.

The particularly Mamet-y dialogue is fantastic (I like his style). The story is interesting, and most of the characters are engaging. Aside from the typical good stuff, Mamet does his thing of leaving lots of plot unexplained. I'm bothered by this--I understand that these aspects of plot are insignificant at the end of the day, but it seems weird to just ignore them. I can certainly see this movie influencing both The Usual Suspects as well as Eyes Wide Shut.

A strange, powerful little film.

Before losing it in the final act, a fascinating study of identity and how culture and race can be used and abused

i dont think i've seen a Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Crime movie THAT boring

Excellent!

Like most Mamet films, it's intricately plotted in a way that keeps you hungry for the next piece of the puzzle, and it contains his fantastic stylized dialogue and a compelling performance by Joe Mantegna. But there's a lot of loose ends and things that don't quite add up in a sensible way. And the way the film deals with anti-Semitism is odd. I don't want to say the film is paranoid, or tackling a non-existent issue, or even inflating the seriousness of it. It just doesn't seem very accurate.

I enjoy Mamet's strange plot twists and dialogue, but only up to a certain point and he always seems to push it just beyond coherence. It's very engaging and fun to watch, but things fall apart under scrutiny, making it a good but transient experience.