Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding modern classic
Review: Clever film with a raging script that reminds one of conversations that go on when people really say what they are thinking--in this case, mostly what Scott has to say. Scott is brilliant as the misogynistic Roger, who on a whim decides to show his visiting nephew what it is really all about.A few lapses here and there and not all parts of the film fire well, but over all it is unusually clever with a large amount of credibility. The bar scenes feel fairly reminiscent of a real bar and we can almost believe that Roger would have been there, showing his young charge the ropes ( as he sees them, at any rate). First rate fun, might make you wince a bit.
Rating:
Summary: Smarmy Fun
Review: Going in I assumed this was a film about a suave player (Campbell Scott) who was charm women & end up passing this skill down to his nephew. I was only half right. During the set up we actually find out that he's sort of a prick. If he likes you he uses his elocutionary skills flatter you. If he's having a bad day he using them to debase you. Then his 16 yr. old nephew enters the picture & asks for help with the ladies. Normally he might not "waste" his time in helping another human being, but I believe it creates a nice distraction from the current turbulation in his life. This film primarily takes place during one night. Scott BSs his way throughout the evening trying to teach his nephew a thing or 2. They interact with a couple of chicks at a bar, Elizabeth Berkley who I enjoy & Jennifer Beals who I find highly overrated. They like the boy's naivetivity. Scott then continues the night trying to get the boy laid while the night gets seamier & seamier. There is definitely some truthfullness in this movie, such as when Scott tells his nephew about the closing time scenario in which everyone gets depressed & just don't want to be alone. In the end it seems that the nephew may have learned a thing or 2 even though he'd probably retain his sweetness. Scott may or may not change, but I think it's more about the scene & lonliness than any one or 2 characters. This film really does seem to push you into the movie. I often felt uncomfortable, just like in real life. This is the look the filmmakers were going for & it really worked for me.
Rating:
Summary: Say What?
Review: Great dialogue and perfect casting made this film work so well. "Roger Dodger" made me realize that in our ADD-plagued world, people don't listen very well. What a shame, though a sharp tongue can be your downfall along with the habit of botching the dreams of others. Lots going on here and a clever resolution at the end is unexpectedly welcome-nearly perfect. Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com
Rating:
Summary: Say What?
Review: Great dialogue and perfect casting made this film work so well. "Roger Dodger" made me realize that in our ADD-plagued world, people don't listen very well. What a shame, though a sharp tongue can be your downfall along with the habit of botching the dreams of others. Lots going on here and a clever resolution at the end is unexpectedly welcome-nearly perfect. Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com
Rating:
Summary: Sad but true
Review: Great, darkly lit dialog piece. The pacing creeps in a way that supports the general anxiety build throughout as the main character's take on his job in advertising reveals the truth about himself. Empty fulfillment reveals itself as he takes a mentor role with his smarter than average kid cousin. Never too bleak to go on feeling ok, the movie reminds us of our constant search to fulfill, by any means, what is missing. The movie works.
Rating: 
Summary: superlative sript leads to imaginative and exemplary film
Review: hard hitting dialogue, and utterly compelling acting by the male lead, make this a film to remember. Full of attitude, this is a no compromise piece of work. A fair critism, would be to say that the camera work is very shake quite a lot of the time, the use of what seems handheld camera is almost amateurish, and made me feel a bit sea sick, as it shakes around as you watch the scene. No doubt a low budget , and not A rate camera operator are to blame here. A real shame, as with 1st class lighting and camerwork, this couldve been even better. Very original, not just a tarantino rip-off, but genuine and stark views that must've been held by the writer. I loved it, it has some very witty and funny moments, especially the closing scenes at the school hall. Wonderfull, but this writer/director needs better cameras and camera men, and soon please.
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: I must say, I am thrilled to see Elizabeth Berkley thriving as an actress and finally getting the credit she deserves. Her performance (along with Jennifer Beals) was the absolute highlight of this film. AWESOME!
Rating:
Summary: A Sleeper Romance
Review: I wouldn't have thought from previews that "Roger Dodger" would have an ounce of romance in it, but it does. The scene between Elizabeth Berkeley, Jennifer Beals (both very good by the way--who would have thought?) and Roger's nephew is incredibly sweet and touching, but without being overly sentimental or cloying. Campbell Scott gives a fabulous performance as Roger, illustrating how broad his acting range is. My only complaint with the movie is its incredibly annoying cinematography. All of the compositions are cluttered and claustrophobic, sometimes so much so that the main focus of the shot is entirely obscured. And this trend toward hand-held cameras needs to be stopped. I think directors feel that hand-held cinematography lends a gritty, realistic point of view to their films, but more frequently it serves only to distract. But a fairly minor quibble about an otherwise very good film. Grade: A-
Rating:
Summary: A stranger to himself
Review: If you like movies about New York scenes and that make social commentaries on these scenes, I definitely recommend this one. Roger Swanson, a fast-talkin' yuppie advertising copyrighter and slick ladies' man, the "player" type of guy you often come across in singles bars and dating services, is very easy to detest at first. His way of seducing ladies is the same formula he applies to his job: get them to feel bad about themselves, and then present himself as the man who will "save" them from their predicaments. After he eats lunch with his boss and co-workers, he uses this method when he makes remarks to a young female co-worker that she's sleeping with her boss, and insults an older woman by accusing her of being a pathetic self-help junkie who was in a string of abusive relationships before she finally found her fiance, warning her that her fiance might dump her once he finds out how old she really is. Not surprisingly, these women recoil from him in disgust. "Do you want me to call the bartender?" the latter woman says to him. His boss (Isabella Rosselini), who he's been sleeping with, gets fed up with him after he let himself into her apartment using a copy of her keys that he had made without telling her. One day at the office - just after his boss dumped him - Nick, his teenaged nephew, pays him a surprise visit at his cubicle. They eat lunch at a nearby coffee shop, and Nick tells Roger that he heard from his mother that Roger is a ladies' man, and he wants Roger to teach him how to attract women. Roger happily obliges, taking Nick out on a night on the town to show him the ropes. They first stop at a club, where they meet two young women named Andrea (Elizabeth Berkley) and Sophie (Jennifer Beals), and get into long conversations about relationships with families - we discover that Nick's mother is a closet alcoholic and Roger didn't get along with his father - and losing your virginity. Andrea and Sophie are charmed by Nick's intelligence, youth, and lack of artifice, but turned off by Roger's boorish remarks. Next, Nick and Roger crash his boss's party, even though she didn't invite him. Nick, egged on by Roger, attempts to lose his virginity with a guest who has had too much drink and is passed out on a bed, while Roger circulates with the guests, talking a mile a minute, putting everything and everyone down, until he runs into his boss and the co-workers he ate lunch with earlier and makes insinuating remarks about his boss sleeping with a much younger co-worker. His boss tells him to leave and that he is fired. "Think very carefully about what you're doing," she admonishes him. Roger then takes Nick to an underground brothel, and all hell breaks loose between them as Roger realizes that he might have gone too far in corrupting Nick's morals. They make up later on. By then, you see how sad, lonely, and alienated Roger truly is. It is clear that he is unable to relate to people, female or male, and has a lot of frustrations about this. This is because he has never grown up, and everybody else - his boss, his co-workers, etc. - sees this but him. Only Nick - who in many ways turns out to be much more mature than his uncle - retains some affection for Roger; in spite of everything, Nick feels he did learn something from his uncle. This is evident when Roger visits Nick in the cafeteria of his high school in Ohio and coaches him and his friends - a couple of whom think Roger is "strange, but cool" - on how to attract women.
Rating: 
Summary: Better name...Oral Roger
Review: If you want to get irritated by listening to someone that can't stop talking about his own empty opinions, then this movie is for you....
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