The Mysteries of Pittsburgh 2008

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies: I can't imagine the novel's characters were this flat, formulaic and puzzling in their behavior. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a coming-of-ager that nearly slaughters you by minute 30 with the relentlessness of its protagonist's voiceovers, as scripted--with reverence and without cinematic wiles--by director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Shoddy and never credible, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is an ungainly coming-of-age drama based on a (hopefully much better) novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Only Sarsgaard shows a pulse, creating a self-destructive, omnisexual rogue who, for all his faults, would probably be great company. The same can't be said for the film around him. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Michael Chabon's earnest first novel from 1988 about a young man's bisexual coming of age is now what could pass for a flavorless pilot for the CW. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A stillborn rendering of Michael Chabon's first novel. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Too busy for three mediocre movies? Watch this gonzo drama -- a coming-of-age Mafia bisexual love triangle that's simultaneously bizarre and trite. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: When characters say things like "It's gonna be a great summer," or call someone "Old sport" and act oh-so-beautifully doomed, it's time to call the cliche police. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The real mystery about The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is how writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber could turn Michael Chabon's delightful debut novel into such a bore. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie is all the more artificial because it has been made with great, almost painful, earnestness. Read more

David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle: The charm and drily pointed cultural observations that made Chabon's 1988 debut so auspicious are largely missing in action throughout this earnest but unconvincing film. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: At any middling arthouse festival, films like this are four for a dollar. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: When a director has an overinflated conception of the adapted book, we stand a pretty good chance of being really underwhelmed by the completed movie. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: A surefooted screen translation of Michael Chabon's beloved 1988 debut novel. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Devotees of Chabon will find particular points on which to disdain Thurber's treatment -- for the uninitiated, it's enough to feel the howling gulf between intention and what's actually on-screen. Read more

Dan Zak, Washington Post: The Mysteries of Pittsburgh seems to be missing an essential element of drama, of risk, underneath its glossy, golden sheen. Read more