Rating: 
Summary: Uneven, couldn't make up its mind about what it was
Review: "Playing God" was supposed to be David Duchovny's breakout movie role; he had previously starred in movies such as "Kalifornia" and "The Rapture," but "Playing God" came out at the height of "The X-Files"'s popularity and acclaim.You can understand what Duchovny was trying to do here, to get away from the straight arrow yet weird role of Fox Mulder. So he chooses the role of a disgraced doctor whose license to practice medicine has been revoked due to his substance abuse problems. What's a guy supposed to do? Well, if you hang out in seedy bars where gunfights break out, you demonstrate how handy your skills can be to people who get shot and wounded a lot. Kind of like a black market surgeon. That's how Duchovny gets hooked up with crime boss Timothy Hutton. I had great expectations for this movie when it came out, and while I was disappointed, I thought the critics were far harsher than warranted. True, Duchovny's performance, while not bad, seems very similar to what he does on "The X-Files," a sort of flat, somewhat wry, never in real danger attitude. The biggest flaw with the movie has to be the fact that it couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to be, film noir or dark comedy. At times, it veers toward a "Pulp Fiction"-like fascination with the minutia of being a criminal, while at other times it tries (but fails) to evoke suspense and fear. (For example, there's a scene where some bad guys want him to fix up their dead friend. The way the scene is cut in the trailer, it comes across as funny when Duchovny says, "I'll see what I can do." The way its cut in the movie, there's an intervening line of dialogue where Duchovny seems to be quite frightened; the effect of the following response is ruined.) With the excellent cast, it could have done either one competently; but its attempt to do both fails. Personally, I think the dark comedy would have been the better way to go. There's a scene near the end where Duchovny, in an elevator surrounded by Asian tourists, does a deadpan response to an annoying FBI agent that's the highlight of the movie. In summary, this is a decent rental if you lower your expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven, couldn't make up its mind about what it was
Review: "Playing God" was supposed to be David Duchovny's breakout movie role; he had previously starred in movies such as "Kalifornia" and "The Rapture," but "Playing God" came out at the height of "The X-Files"'s popularity and acclaim. You can understand what Duchovny was trying to do here, to get away from the straight arrow yet weird role of Fox Mulder. So he chooses the role of a disgraced doctor whose license to practice medicine has been revoked due to his substance abuse problems. What's a guy supposed to do? Well, if you hang out in seedy bars where gunfights break out, you demonstrate how handy your skills can be to people who get shot and wounded a lot. Kind of like a black market surgeon. That's how Duchovny gets hooked up with crime boss Timothy Hutton. I had great expectations for this movie when it came out, and while I was disappointed, I thought the critics were far harsher than warranted. True, Duchovny's performance, while not bad, seems very similar to what he does on "The X-Files," a sort of flat, somewhat wry, never in real danger attitude. The biggest flaw with the movie has to be the fact that it couldn't make up its mind about what it wanted to be, film noir or dark comedy. At times, it veers toward a "Pulp Fiction"-like fascination with the minutia of being a criminal, while at other times it tries (but fails) to evoke suspense and fear. (For example, there's a scene where some bad guys want him to fix up their dead friend. The way the scene is cut in the trailer, it comes across as funny when Duchovny says, "I'll see what I can do." The way its cut in the movie, there's an intervening line of dialogue where Duchovny seems to be quite frightened; the effect of the following response is ruined.) With the excellent cast, it could have done either one competently; but its attempt to do both fails. Personally, I think the dark comedy would have been the better way to go. There's a scene near the end where Duchovny, in an elevator surrounded by Asian tourists, does a deadpan response to an annoying FBI agent that's the highlight of the movie. In summary, this is a decent rental if you lower your expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent acting with an absurd premise
Review: David Duchovny took his time off from The X-Files to star in this far fetched thriller where he plays a disgraced surgeon who is recruited by a wealthy criminal (Timothy Hutton) to perform meatball surgeries on his wounded henchmen. The plot, character development, and directing aren't anything sophisticated and are far from being anything special, but Playing God kind of works thanks to excellent performances from Duchovny, Hutton (in his best role next to The Dark Half), a pre-fame Angelina Jolie, Peter Storemare, and CSI's Gary Dourdan. Check it out if your a fan of Duchovny, just don't take it too seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Slick
Review: David Duchovny's acting with hutton is excellent. The story and some scenes of directing needs serious help. Overall, it's a slick thriller that's "Quentin Taritino" styled.
Rating:
Summary: Escapist fun.
Review: Duchovny plays a drug addicted doctor who has lost his license. One night while making a score he saves a man's life and is suddenly back in the doctor business when a big time smuggler (Hutton) gets word of the rescue from his gal (Jolie) and sets him up as an underworld doc. Predictable characters, but good acting. A smarter brand of dark comedy than is usually found in an action adventure thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: What was this supposed to be? Its one big mess!
Review: Honestly now , how can you like this movie? It has the most uneven low plot a movie could have. Thats what makes it so dumb. David Suchovny plays and LA surgeon who had his licence to practice medicene taken away. Timothy Hutton plays a big LA player who can help him get it back. But after the two bond they begin to fight over the same girl(Angelina Jolie). There is a lot of pointless dialogue and action sequences. The whole movie is just a big blur basically. Duchovny's satr power or the cool way the film tries to play cannot save the movie from being anything less than trash. I would definetly not reccomend this film to anyone. Listen for The Matrix theme in the film If yo sadly decide to see it.
Rating:
Summary: 'PG' better than most realize
Review: I disagree with the negative reviews by Maltin and the other 'customer' reviewers. I found this to be an excellent action film with good acting, a screenplay that was urbane and sardonic in a Quentin Tarentino sort of way, and excellenct acting by Duchovny and Hutton. My only complaint is that Angelina Jolie's character is underdeveloped. I highly recommend this film!
Rating:
Summary: There Was So Much Potential for this Film.......
Review: I love David Duchovny, I love Angelina Jolie, but I hated this movie to the point I had trouble watching it to it's rather predictable conclusion. The story line was good but it is clear that the end product was not what the actors or the director was aiming for. I come to that conclusion from watching interviews with DD during his Press Junket for the movie. The feeling through out this movie was it was a higgldly piggldy mess, and no-one was quite sure how to reach the end. So it kind of waded through scenes that you were wondering where the rest of it went and how you reached this point in the first place. If there was a no star rating, I would have chosen that. As I said at the beginnin, I love David to death, but I felt I was watching Mulder without Scully in another version of his FBI life. On a final note, I am looking forward to his new movie with Minnie Driver.
Rating:
Summary: Anything with Angelina Jolie
Review: I love the dry humor (dialogue) of this movie, tho I could of done without SO much profanity, and violence. I buy anything with Angelina Jolie in it.
Rating:
Summary: Anything with Angelina Jolie
Review: I love the dry humor (dialogue) of this movie, tho I could of done without SO much profanity, and violence. I buy anything with Angelina Jolie in it.
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