Middle Men: Critic Reviews

Perhaps it's inevitable that this cranked-up drama wants it both ways.

Mr. Gallo, for his part, is content to decorate a fairly conventional, intermittently entertaining crime chronicle with a bit of skin and a soupcon of pop sociology. There must be other ways to learn about pornography on the Internet.

Think Boogie Nights meets Casino, though it's not likely to make the lasting impression of either seminal film.

Even without much character development, the compelling story holds, mostly due to Wilson.

Gallo has the start of a good story here, but he can't find an original way to explore it.

...the picture is never not engaging, and it certainly has its moments.

Relentlessly sleazy but undeniably intriguing.

This very well-acted, often amusing and dirty-minded hard-R film still stands out in a sea of market-driven blandness.

A highly entertaining, flawed, ripped-off-and-reassembled carnival of sleaze.

A colorful supporting cast gives this uneven Internet porn saga a potent boost.

This inspired-by-a-true-story film about the birth of Internet porn is giddily sleazy, full of convincing crazies and criminals, as well as the scumbags and wannabes who surround them.

This one's coming in under the radar. Keep an eye out...Best of all is Wilson, digging into his juiciest role in years.

Considering the naughty subject matter, Middle Men is a shockingly dull affair.

...a film that can't make up its mind what it wants to be: a comedy, a melodrama, a crime thriller, or a documentary.

If it weren't for James Caan's shyster Las Vegas lawyer, the whole, um, pornucopia would be a complete waste of time. Best to think of this as Middling Men.

What could have been a complex portrait of a flawed man dealing with the perils of success ends up far less interesting.

Sex, Lies And MasterCard. An irreverent, strictly behind the scenes tabloid peep show about those thankfully unsung guys who perpetrated the online porn revolution, without ever taking their clothes off.

Hampered mightily by Luke Wilson's casting, Middle Men has energy and some sleazy fun around its edges, but critically fails to locate a sincere lasting feeling, be it titillation or trepidation.

Luke Wilson's terrific performance renders an uneasy hybrid of crime drama, comedy and ecommerce far more compelling than it otherwise would be.

I never got the feeling Gallo and company figured out how to compress and focus their stories.

Kind of a mess.