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The King of Marvin Gardens

The King of Marvin Gardens

1972
Drama, Crime
1h 43m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 50.81% from 237 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(237)
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Rated 07 Feb 2016
75
65th
Oh right Bruce Dern wasn't always a crotchety old man. "You wouldn't hit a man with glasses" for two hours from Nicholson.
Rated 06 May 2012
30
5th
For all the 'realism' of 1970s American cinema, many of the ones I've seen have been conventional narrative dramas underneath the gritter cinematographic techniques, to be judge depending on that context than as being real to life. This was extremely tedious and ultimately worthless as a drama for me...that opening monologue on the other does deserve praise away from the rest of it.
Rated 21 Jun 2012
54
8th
Immensely wasted potential here. The characters are interesting, but not enough blanks are filled in. The premise could work and be something fascinating, but it manages to be vague, jumpy and boring. More than a few times did I feel they were telling this story all wrong. Nicholson and Dern both do well, even feel at home in their characters, but apart from that incredible opening scene this was a disappointment.
Rated 26 Dec 2019
89
90th
Brimming with sadness, due to the disparity of what is hoped for and what is the reality, which is exemplified by Bruce Dern's enthusiastic planning of a Hawaiian casino and the conversely dour Atlantic City hotel room they reside in. Nicholson is extraordinary in a very non-showy and withheld role, merely viewing the eccentricities of the three other characters. Works simply and effectively with a minimal concept, dynamite screenplay, and thoroughly excellent performances from these four leads.
Rated 18 Jul 2022
76
38th
A decent if minor character study. Most of the enjoyment comes from seeing Nicholson play against type - and Bruce Dern absolutely crush it as the Nicholson-esque character - and the great depiction of Atlantic City. Burstyn is fantastic but her arc feels a little misogynist these days, although it still fits with the themes of the movie/other BBS flicks.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
76
87th
Melancholy, downbeat drama with an air of desperation. A couple of guys doing stupid things and trying to make a big score, and a couple of crazy or half-crazy bimbo girls tagging along: almost a model for CALIFORNIA SPLIT. All the performances are good, and undoubtedly gives a feeling of malaise and disconnection, with a lot of fine touches, including an excellent opening. Very sad that this was Julia Anne Robinson's first and last significant role before her death.
Rated 27 May 2008
70
41st
Seemed rather pointless. One of the more notable casting switcheroos (kinda like Neighbors). Scatman (Benjamin?) was good in an unusual role for him--nice and ruthless.
Rated 04 Jul 2010
63
60th
Very disappointing as the follow-up to Five Easy Pieces, but not bad.
Rated 18 Jan 2011
60
54th
watched: 2011, 2022
Rated 11 Aug 2011
2
21st
For lack of more nuanced criticism, it was just boring.
Rated 19 Aug 2011
90
80th
Movie 800. Jack, Ellen Burstyn and Bruce Dern are all superb. I think its better than Five Easy Pieces. (two times)
Rated 26 Sep 2011
70
35th
Things bwcome dangerous when a dreamer oversteps his authority
Rated 19 May 2013
85
89th
Strong performances coupled with fantastic cinematography. Meanders at times but in an odd captivating way.
Rated 01 Dec 2013
75
54th
Interesting to see Nicholson as the nebbish introvert. Amazing opening monologue sets him up as an unreliable narrator, and what follows is people heaping mounds of bullshit on each other. No one directly tells the truth, and they all suffer for it.
Rated 15 Jul 2014
73
78th
Bleak psychological drama subverts expectations by casting Nicholson and Dern in non-traditional roles. Nicholson plays the calm level headed brother of Dern, a temperamental hot head who lures Nicholson into his crackpot scheme. It's well shot and acted, and there are a few brilliant sequences, but the symbolism is a little too on the nose, and something about the ending just doesn't quite ring true. The opening monologue is quite possibly the best Bergman inspired scene in all of film though.
Rated 17 Jul 2016
60
32nd
Wonderful opening, and while the story is very dry and rote, there are definitely highlights. Nicholson playing against type is cool. Rafelson's use of still frames and big empty spaces provides most of the film's character, both peaceful and bleak. Excellent dialogue. Viewers who find the film over their head or beneath their interest might be swayed to appreciation, as I was, by supplements on the Criterion disc.
Rated 22 Oct 2016
92
97th
Empty, absurd, depressing and utterly brilliant, this is a film about pointlessness and decay. Often confusing to boot, it's all part of the film's considerable charm.
Rated 09 Nov 2019
53
30th
I'm a huge fan of most of the New Hollywood films but this one just never went anywhere and ultimately left me bored
Rated 10 Aug 2020
72
51st
Very decent movie with Bruce Dern and Jack Nicholson as brothers. Dern is a con-man, Nicholson is his intellectual brother. Both act great. And it's a stroke of genius to cast Nicholson against type.
Rated 31 Mar 2023
70
45th
Remarkable how Nicholson's acting here feels like a prestudy of P.S. Hoffman's work: subassertive, yet charismatic. Dern is great in his manical entrepreneurship. The open way of telling the story is awardwinning, firmly supported by the inspirational directing. Unfortunately the director's foot weighs heavy on the arty-craziness pedal and the script secretly wants to be a poem instead of a movie. This could’ve achieved greatness, but - ironically enough, just like Dern's character - it doesn’t.

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