Why so much hype?

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

best movie i've ever seen.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I actually liked the movie quite a bit. But a Brit and a Dane playing Georgia southerners is a bit silly. Having been born in Kentucky and living in Florida the last 40 years, I found their accents ridiculous. All that aside I enjoyed the movie. Keep in mind Robert Altman made his ABSOLUTE WORST movie here in St. Pete, H.E.A.L.T.H. It was so terrible it has never been released in the theaters or DVD. TCM has played it once or twice. So this one of his is decent.

This was purchased for me, on account of it being based on a Grisham novel. I'm afraid that between this and Gosford Park, the only things directed by him that I've seen, Altman remains underwhelming to me. Hey, if someone points me to a specific one of his that is superior to these, then I might give it a chance. And I can definitely imagine that the books these two are based upon are far better than the adaptations, in spite of not having read a word of either. With that said, this is fairly engaging, and the mystery is OK, though the ending is rather anti-climactic. This builds suspense and tension reasonably well, if it doesn't feel like it ever amounts to all that much. The plot is good and keeps your attention nicely. Editing and cinematography aren't bad. The acting performances are great. Casting is mostly solid; obviously Branagh deserves a smarter script, and I have to wonder why they put Hannah in glasses and locked her in the "stuffy secretary" role. She's curvy and can be an imposing screen presence. What gives? Also, note that Janssen is barely in this. Downey Jr. and Duvall are great. There is a lot of strong language, half a minute or so(!) of female full frontal nudity, a bit of disturbing content and some violence. I recommend this to big fans of thrillers, especially those who enjoy the journey more than the destination. 6/10

"The Gingerbread Man is the first thriller I've ever done!" – Robert Altman In 1955, Charles Laughton directed "The Night of the Hunter", a spooky slice of Southern Gothic in which Robert Mitchum plays a spooky serial killer. One of that film's more famous sequences consisted of two kids escaping from Mitchum on a rowboat, the kids frantically paddling whilst Mitchum wades after them like a monster. Seven years later Mitchum played an equally creep killer in "Cape Fear", another film set in the American South. That film featured a local attorney trying to protect his family and likewise ended with Mitchum terrorising folks on a boat. Now we have Robert Altman's "The Gingerbread Man", another slice of small town Southern Gothic. Altman says he consulted "The Night of the Hunter" for inspiration and tackled such a mainstream film purely because he wanted to "spread his wings and try a popcorn picture", but what he also seems to be attempting is a deconstruction of the canonical films of the genre.So instead of a showdown on small boat, we get a showdown on a giant ship. Instead of two kids being kidnapped, we get two kids being safely returned to the police. Instead of money being hidden, we have money being readily given via a last will and testament. Instead of the righteous attorney of the 1961 film (and the deplorable attorney of the 1991 remake), we get a rather three-dimensional lawyer played by Kenneth Branagh. Instead of the monster chasing the family we get the hero chasing the bad guys. Instead of the monster breaking into the family's house boat, we have the hero hunting the monster on board the monster's "house ship". Similarly, instead of a murderous serial killer we get an innocent weirdo played by Robert Duvall. . .etc etc etc.Altman goes on and on, reversing everything just a little, pulling at the edges and doing his own thing. His touch is most apparent during the film's first half-hour, the film existing in an uneasy space between conventional plot-driven storytelling and Altman's fondness for overlapping dialogue, narrative lethargy, prowling camera movement and the way that characters aren't so much introduced as they are simply part of what's going on.Still, despite Altman's best intentions, "The Gingerbread Man" never rises above mediocrity. Altman's too bound to the conventions of the "thriller format" to do much damage, his style is too slack to generate tension and the film is simply not radical enough to counterpoint other canonical films in the genre. "Gingerbread Man" is thus too mainstream to work as a more pure Altman film and too Altman to work as a mainstream thriller.The film's not a complete waste, though. Robert Downey Junior, Kenneth Branagh and the usually intolerable Daryl Hannah all turn in juicy performances. The film also has a nice atmosphere, set against a approaching hurricane, and the final act contains some interesting twists and turns. While it's not the complete hokey disaster that Scorsese's "Cape Fear" was, the film still never amounts to anything memorable.Incidentally, in the late 1990s Altman made 3 successive films set in the American South: "Kansas City", "Gingerbread Man" and "Cookie's Fortune". With its hierarchies of class, politics and crime, and its desire to break radically away from your typical gangster narrative, "Kansas City" is the more important of these three films. That said, "Cookie's Fortune", whilst a much slighter tale, is perhaps the better picture. 7/10 - Altman claims that this is his first thriller, but he directed "Images", an art house thriller, in 1972. Worth one viewing.

In spite of its impressive cast and crew pedigree Gingerbread Man crumbles early and often. The plot is unrealistically convoluted, the actors sport bad accents and director Robert Altman's participation amounts to collecting a pay check. Once again he has assembled an impressive cast (Like Woody Allen, everyone wants to work with Altman)that this time around to the letter is miscast. But that's only part of the problem.Kenneth Branagh is Rick Magruder a high powered Georgia lawyer who in the film's heavy handed opening scenes manages to get himself preposterously seduced by a mysterious catering company waitress who convinces him she is in grave danger from an ex-husband and a loony dad. With red flags everywhere the astute lawyer plods on even managing to get his children in harms way. Fights of gun and fist follow along with a requisite car chase and if that's not enough there's a hurricane thrown in for the ridiculous finale.Branagh plays MacGruder with a mealy and unconvincing Southern accent. Running around in a trench coat in all kinds of weather he's blind to the obvious in order to keep the story going. Hipster Bob Downey Jr. is every bit as bad as a P.I. but with a little more emphasis on the bad accent. Robert Duvall as the old man is Boo Radely all growed up en crazier than a bed bug serving some thick slices of ham but at least his twang is plausible. The female leads (Embeth Davidtz, Darryl Hannah, Famkhee Jansen)are lean leggy and unemotive. Even the celebrity lawyers doing cameos (Vernon Jordan) are wooden with the few throw away lines they have.In addition to paying little attention to his actors, Altman's mise en scene dripping with Spanish moss is murky and shapeless, his action scenes comic book. It lacks his offbeat touches and observations (he does inform the viewer that the Stars and Bars still wave in Georgia)that make a well done Altman so unique. Unfortunately, Gingerbread Man is Altman at his worst, even if the pay is the same.