Review of The Conversation (1974) by Dennis M — 10 Dec 2009
After seeing this listed on several friends' lists of "top films," I was shocked, upon finally viewing it, to find it an extremely unremarkable piece of filmmaking. Hackman is a fine actor, and Coppola's direction has its moments, but the real problem is a sluggish story and a head-scratching lack of ideas.
The concept of replaying the same conversation, with the tone changing as the audience learns more about the story, seems like a good recipe for some clever work with dialogue - unfortunately, it's a mere one line that changes meaning as the plot progresses.
Most of the film is devoted to showing us exactly how uninteresting Caul's uninteresting life is, the end result being a certifiably uninteresting film.
This review of The Conversation (1974) was written by Dennis M on 10 Dec 2009.
The Conversation has generally received very positive reviews.
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