Backstabbing for Beginners

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Backstabbing for Beginners

R,

2018,

1h 48m,

Mystery & Thriller/

Drama

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41%

22 Reviews

Tomatometer

51%

100+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

22 Reviews

51%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Michael, a young United Nations employee, travels to Iraq with his mentor, who wants to show him how successful the UN's Oil-for-Food Program has been. When Michael gets a deeper look at the organization, he unveils a corruption conspiracy in which officials -- both inside and outside the UN -- are skimming billions off the top of the aid meant for the Iraqi people.

Critics Consensus

Backstabbing for Beginners turns the complex intrigue of a fascinating, real life scandal, into a lifeless and dry slog that not even a scenery-chewing Ben Kingsley can enliven.

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Chandler Levack

Globe and Mail

May 4, 2018

1/4

Whatever potential was evident in Soussan's source material is wasted on empty clichs and spoiler-alert casting.

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Bruce DeMara

Toronto Star

May 3, 2018

1.5/4

Great title. Too bad what follows doesn't have the same insouciant charm.

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Rex Reed

Observer

Apr 30, 2018

2/4

It involves so much internecine crime that it would be hard to understand under any circumstances, but this film is a drier head-scratcher than it needs to be.

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Josh Goller

Spectrum Culture

Jul 20, 2019

1.5/5

Takes an unsexy geopolitical scandal and makes it even more drab.

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Jason Best

Movie Talk

Mar 11, 2019

2/5

This is a fascinating, outrage-provoking story but director Per Fly's bid to turn it into a cloak-and-dagger thriller falls disappointingly flat.

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Aug 27, 2018

2/5

Backstabbing for Beginners doesn't convey the complexities of this scandal nor the troubled, compromised humanity of its characters.

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Mar 27, 2019

Great story. Weak execution.

George R

Feb 6, 2019

Really loved movie. Thoughtful, captivating, acting superb, interesting plot and amazing as it is based on true events. Would recommend this movie to anyone interested in a seeing a great but very under appreciated movie. Ben Kingsley's performance as usual stellar.

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Ron W

Nov 25, 2018

Backstabbing For Beginners is smart but I'm not entirely sure that it fulfills its entire purpose, we're presented with a very saucy source material based on real-life events that's very interesting, the film does a good job of highlighting these events to some extent as it lacks a certain complexity about it, what I'm trying to say is that it gives you the feeling that it could have been done better with say a different director, not that this director did a bad job but this kind of politically oriented storytelling requires some serious crafting skills. The acting was spot on and did the job quite well, Theo James partnership with the great Bill Kingsley is rather great as the two go back and forth navigating their ways through a complicated situation, although worth mentioning is Belçim Bilgin the actress who plays the role of "Nashim" she provides the much-needed authenticity when dealing with such stories, she performed flawlessly. Backstabbing For Beginners does the bare minimum of telling this story, it doesn't really tackle it or engage it as it should do but nevertheless, it is still a really well film and I really enjoyed it

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Rey W

Oct 20, 2018

Powerful, moving and important film. The best thing Theo James has done to date. Everyone should see this film. I highly recommend it!

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Finn S

Oct 19, 2018

not fair for this film these ratings, solid acting, based on a true and fascinating story, well done

Oct 9, 2018

Interesting tale on corruption in oil for food program. Kofi Annan was booted out of UN because this happened under his tenure. Everyone was manipulating the protagonist. Eventually he fought back to expose their greed.

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Per Fly

Director

Ben Kingsley

Pasha

Theo James

Michael

Jacqueline Bisset

Christina Dupre

Belçim Bilgin

Nashim

Rossif Sutherland

Trevor

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Backstabbing for Beginners: Trailer 1

1:41

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Synopsis

Michael, a young United Nations employee, travels to Iraq with his mentor, who wants to show him how successful the UN's Oil-for-Food Program has been. When Michael gets a deeper look at the organization, he unveils a corruption conspiracy in which officials -- both inside and outside the UN -- are skimming billions off the top of the aid meant for the Iraqi people.

Director: Per Fly
Producer: Malene Blenkov, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Daniel Bekerman, Nikolaj Vibe Michelsen
Screenwriter: Per Fly, Daniel Pyne, Michael Soussan
Distributor: A24
Production Co: Creative Alliance, A24
Rating: R (Some Violence|Language Throughout)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 27, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 24, 2018
Runtime: 1h 48m

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