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90
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
A maliciously funny and keenly observant movie -- director-writer Patrick Stettner makes a potent feature debut -- that serves its humor dark and without artificial sweeteners.
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80
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The New York Times Stephen Holden
With an intensity that few movies have mustered, The Business of Strangers makes you feel the acute loneliness of it all.
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80
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Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Crisp and provocative, and no small amount of its pleasure derives from Channing's dazzling performance.
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80
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Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
The dynamic between Channing and Stiles is as compelling as a freeway wreck.
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80
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Mr. Stettner has a serious subject here -- how the hurts that women suffer at the hands of men can be internalized more deeply than the victims know -- and his film is graced with a stunning performance by Ms. Channing.
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75
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's a good movie, and Channing and Stiles are the right choices for these roles. They zero in on each other like heat-seeking missiles.
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75
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San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Stettner approaches this material with a playwright's incisiveness and structural sense. His dialogue is cutting, often surprising.
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75
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USA Today Claudia Puig
Incorporates a range of genres -- black comedy, thriller, psychological drama -- and emerges more powerful for it.
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70
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Washington Post Stephen Hunter
After an hour of brilliant, bitchy dialogue and deceit, it simply runs out of energy; or possibly the budget ran out.
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67
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Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
None of this detracts, however, from the terrific piss-and-merlot performances of Channing and Stiles, or from the committed participation of Frederick Weller as a Neil LaBute-era businessman caught in the lounge between two she-devils disguised as businesswomen.
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