While director Robert Benton refrains from milking the big, CRYING GAME-sized twist at the center of this weak abbreviation of Philip Roth's expansive 2000 novel, keeping the story's secret makes discussing the film's real subject — and the movie's shortcomings — difficult. Suffice it to say that the story revolves around Jewish professor of classics Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), whose carefully constructed career at prestigious Athena College quickly unravels when a harmless remark made in front of a crowded classroom is blown out of all context and proportion. Joking aloud about two perpetually absent students, Silk wonders whether they might be "spooks...
Released:
2003
Rated:
R
Length:
104 mins