Absence of Malice 1981

Janet Maslin, New York Times: What Mr. Pollack's movies lack in momentum, they make up for in quiet gravity. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: The picture has a smug, demoralizing sense of pervasive corruption. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I not only liked this movie despite its factual and ethical problems -- I'm not even so sure they matter so much to most viewers. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Absence of Malice does not invalidate All the President's Men. But with entertainment values -- and a moral sense -- every bit as high as that film's, it observes that there is an underside to journalistic gallantry. Read more

Time Out: Impeccably liberal in its orientation to 'issues,' his avoids the excesses of Stanley Kramer-like telegraphy, only to come up looking aesthetically wet. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: A splendidly disturbing look at the power of sloppy reporting to inflict harm on the innocent. Read more