Phil Spector

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Phil Spector

TV-MA,

2013,

1h 33m,

Drama/

Biography

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Watchlist

Watchlist

51%

41 Reviews

Tomatometer

32%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

51%

Tomatometer

41 Reviews

32%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Lawyer Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) defends music producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino), on trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

Critics Consensus

Its top-shelf script and terrific cast ensure that it's always watchable, but Phil Spector fails to provide truly compelling drama.

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John Doyle

Globe and Mail

Jun 11, 2020

Pacino is excellent, savouring Mamet's script and disappearing into this figure who has a God-complex and is, at the same time, a god in the music industry.

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

Jun 21, 2016

Mamet's film isn't sure what the hell to make of Spector. But, strangely, that's part of what makes it so compelling.

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Alessandra Stanley

New York Times

May 22, 2013

Even with a Mamet screenplay and actors like Mr. Pacino and Ms. Mirren there is not much anyone can do to make the audience care.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Jul 11, 2024

3/5

…only David Mamet would be so deliberately obtuse as to make a feature-length film about a famous trial and halt the action before the trial even starts…Pacino is on top form, matched every inch of the way by Helen Mirren as attorney Linda Kenney Baden…

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Stephen Marche

Esquire Magazine

Oct 17, 2018

Victims' rights groups have openly worried that the movie will call into question the nineteen-year sentence Spector received... They needn't worry. The film is no challenge to anything except the careers of those involved with it.

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John Powers

Vogue

Jul 13, 2017

Spector is almost the platonic ideal of the crazy showbiz madman. He makes a great fit for Pacino, who has for once found a character so charismatically odd that he doesn't need to overact to keep himself interested.

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Ron W

Mar 23, 2019

Probably compelled by the casting, only to find in correct satisfaction that both Mirren and Pacino performed excellently around the pre-courtroom drama without any spikes besides being minimally intellectual despite cutting it short at the end rather than telling the story in completion for finalization â" or it fears to enter conventional territory of conversing familiarity. (B) (Full review TBD)

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George L

Apr 21, 2018

Mamet's central thesis about the importance of impartiality in the legal system is not without merit, however centering his argument around Phil Spector was a gross miscalculation especially since his exploration fictionalizes some of the facts of the case. This only undermines his argument and exposes him as something of a hypocrite.

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George S

Nov 26, 2013

The movie broadens from Spector's legal case into larger explorations of prejudices people can harbor about celebrities and eccentrics. The result is a thoughtful, sometimes fascinating, purposefully inconclusive character study.

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Al Pacino

Phil Spector

Helen Mirren

Linda Kenney Baden

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Synopsis

Lawyer Linda Kenney Baden (Helen Mirren) defends music producer Phil Spector (Al Pacino), on trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

Director: David Mamet
Producer: Michael Hausman
Screenwriter: David Mamet
Production Co: HBO Films
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Drama, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Runtime: 1h 33m

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