Avis Metacritic

The reason the film prompts laughter, and finally elation, is not because it's jolly or has any feel-good words to live by. It's because of the utterly demonic skill with which these foulmouthed characters carve one another up in futile attempts to stave off disaster.

The pleasure of this unique film comes in watching superb actors dine on Mamet's pungent language like the feast it is.

The directing's a bit obtrusive, but the script and the acting gets to the heart of Mamet's glorious obsession with macho B.S.

The movie version, directed with unobtrusive precision by James Foley, stays amazingly true to the play's feisty spirit.

Gets most of its legs from the acting and the dialogue, which has such a rhythmic grace that scenes from the movie can be played and replayed with no loss of thump.

A searing showcase for a remarkable ensemble cast.

It's blackly comic - though the humour creeps up on you slowly, and you're seldom sure if you should really be laughing.

But it doesn't quite all come together here as it did onstage, and relentless scabrousness, heavy claustrophobia and a vaguely dated feel are among the elements that will keep mainstream audiences away.

Hammers away at the plot so relentlessly that you can feel the nails entering the back of your skull.

There is no evidence of life outside the immediate world of the movie.