The movie is both a star vehicle and an ensemble piece; the other actors revolve around Newman yet give off more than just his reflected light.

Full Review | Oct 29, 2013

We love to see our movie gods play flawed souls, especially a god with a face that looks like one on a Roman coin.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 29, 2013

Moviegoing holds few pleasures greater than watching an established star completely inhabit a role that exactly suits his personality and abilities. And seeing Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool defines that pleasure.

| Oct 29, 2013

Nobody's Fool is an unprecedented treat, populated with charming, believable characters and a parting shot so beautiful even the hardest of hearts will melt helplessly at its sight.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 29, 2013

Nobody's Fool is funny at times and as cuddly as an old teddy bear. But this movie is being taken far too seriously in some circles.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 29, 2013

While watching Robert Benton's sublime adaptation of Richard Russo's novel, it's hard to avoid the realization that movies like this have become an endangered species.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 29, 2013

The principal pleasure of this film directed by Robert Benton is that its characters are carefully drawn and developed rather than applied like so many decals on a two- dimensional wintry landscape.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 29, 2013

For better and for worse, it's still a Hollywood movie (and a white boys' movie to boot), but one with a more alert eye and feeling for American life than most of its competitors.

| Oct 29, 2013

Not much of a plot? Don't be fooled. The best thing about a story so subdued, so contained -- at least when it's done well, and Fool is done exceptionally well -- is that, in the quiet, we can really hear the characters breathe.

| Original Score: A- | Sep 7, 2011

Fronted by a splendid performance from Paul Newman... Robert Benton's character-driven film is sprinkled with small pleasures; the dramatic developments here don't take place in the noisy, calamitous manner that is customary these days.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

By giving his movie a very effective realistic look, by helping his actors to shape strongly believable performances, even when they are doing implausible things, Benton lends credence to...inspirational fibs.

| Aug 12, 2008

Benton's quietly superb adaptation of Richard Russo's novel is one of those movies you thought they didn't make anymore.

| Jun 24, 2006

It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

It's a gem.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 18, 2002

This is a feel-good flick that doesn't look like one -- it's smart enough to hide its smooth polish beneath a scuffed-up veneer.

| Apr 12, 2002

It benefits from the confidence of Newman's performance.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

So eloquently straightforward, it practically sings to the soul.

| Jan 1, 2000

Whatever its faults, it is humble, adult fare and welcome in this age of grandiose children's games.

| Jan 1, 2000

This subtly engaging film about a man finding redemption relatively late in the winter of his life speaks to the simple truths in the most mundane of human experience.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 1, 2000