Review of The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) by Trent R — 10 Mar 2011

Not gorgeous on blu-ray, but rather appropriately bleak and icy with the detail lending greater impact to Burstyn's incredibly raw performance. The Pinteresque dialogue has quite an edge, and the ordinary and real characters make this a far more credible commentary on failures of the American Dream than some of the more popular films such as Easy Rider. There is no easy reliance on cultural stereotypes to produce conflict from artifice.

Nicholson is naturalistic as a self declared, middle aged kewpie doll, and his scenes with Crothers are a real treat. Dern may seem a bit typecast in retrospect, but that has a lot to do with this performance - and the tenuous, brotherly relationship makes it special.