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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Lonesome Jim -- despite its excellent cast, controlled direction and moody, well-judged atmospherics -- tends to alienate us, just as Affleck's Jim does. Read more
John Hartl, Seattle Times: Sweet and darkly funny for most of its 91 minutes, it falters only in a dawdling final stretch. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Steve Buscemi's a very good director. Read more
Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A slight, but amusing and occasionally touching, dark comedy about depression and dysfunction that percolates with indie film hipness. Read more
Keith Phipps, AV Club: Though Affleck does his best to humanize his one-note character, he's stuck in a script by first-time screenwriter James Strouse that works in broad strokes and trite moments. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The problem is that a little of this minimalist kitchen-sink farce goes a very long way, and after a while Lonesome Jim starts to dry up. Read more
Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Jim's characters may grow on you after a slow setup and, like a hot plate of grits, may stick with you. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Affleck is simply too clean-cut for the role. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: The biggest problem Buscemi has is that his central character has, by definition, very little distinct character. Read more
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: There's nothing for Jim to do but sulk in a local bar on the corner of Nowheresville and Stuckforlife. Read more
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: While Lonesome Jim may be clinically acute, it is by its very nature dramatically inert. Read more
Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Mr. Affleck is burdened with the difficult task of making moroseness seem interesting. He doesn't succeed, and neither does the movie. Read more
Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Screenwriter James C. Strouse (in whose hometown the film was shot) provides so few clues to the source of Jim's malaise, or that of his entire sad-sack family, that the movie remains rudderless and not the least bit believable. Read more
Jan Stuart, Newsday: If Lonesome Jim feels like it's perpetually on the verge of evaporating, Buscemi brings to the material the boundless empathy for misfits and screw-ups he displayed in Trees Lounge. Read more
Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Indie moviegoers have met slackers like Jim before, but he's still good company. The laughs are frequent while the emotions ring true. Read more
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The real problem is its absolute absence of energy. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Affleck plays this as a one-note turn, all dour. What a life-force like Anika would see in him is a mystery. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [Strouse] has written a forlorn and poetic story, and Buscemi has made it into a movie about taking a deep breath and deciding to stop being a mope. Read more
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Nothing in this well-intentioned but lifeless indie draws the hard laughter that comes from creating characters that somehow get to you. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It is packed with delightfully silly vignettes that had me squirming in my seat with laughter. Read more
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It all feels very slight. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Manages to be bitter, dispiriting and utterly pointless all at once. Read more
Time Out: Though this clash of picket-fenced, down-home values and big city oafishness was handled with a little more delicacy in 2005's superb 'Junebug', Buscemi's film has lots to say about this fruitful dynamic. Read more
Dennis Harvey, Variety: There's a slightness to the mildly eccentric material here that leaves the whole enterprise in danger of fluttering away. Read more
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Now that digital imagery (Buscemi's film is another InDigEnt production) is virtually indistinguishable from handheld celluloid, where's the 21st century's own nasty, truth-seeking front edge? Read more
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The script is adroit: It doesn't force the humor, and it steadily keeps track of Jim's growing maturity. Read more