The Architect quickly devolves from hip, idealistic ensemble piece to mostly soapy goulash for the politically correct.

| May 19, 2020

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2011

A well-intentioned misfire...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 28, 2011

It is frustrating to watch the film blow some respectable capital on indulgence in narrative frippery.

| Feb 9, 2007

In my opinion, the film tries to cover too much ground. The plot strands don't exactly coalesce into a tight story. Perhaps that was [the director's] intent, but for me something was missing. The cast does yeoman work but I somehow couldn't exactly get ca

| Original Score: C | Jan 11, 2007

When Tauber finds his focus, The Architect is worth watching. But Tauber rarely finds his focus.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 4, 2007

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 30, 2006

It would bear mentioning that nothing winds up being resolved in the film, if it weren't for the fact that there's nothing to resolve.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 30, 2006

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 30, 2006

What makes the movie satisfying is the fact that its ethnic tensions are never overtly exacerbated, but rather subtly illustrated simply by the comparison of the decadent malaise of the spoiled-rotten versus the neverending nightmare of the have-nots.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 26, 2006

Despite his obvious earnestness, first-time director and cowriter Matt Tauber is ill equipped to mine emotions this complex.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 15, 2006

Too many "big" moments are happening to too many people for the movie to feel plausible, and Tauber tries to tie many of those plots together in a way that seems contrived.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 15, 2006

Given the fact that The Architect is obviously a work in the tradition of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, not to mention Henrik Ibsen, it's disappointing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 14, 2006

The movie doesn't so much tell a story as scream its messages at us in a series of awkward scenes that test the actors' ability to make fake-o dialogue seem like something an actual person might say.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 14, 2006

I am sick to death of taking the White Guilt Trip.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Dec 12, 2006

The Architect wears its heavy social consciousness like an albatross, and Tauber's plodding, earnest direction does little to wean the material away from its stage roots.

| Original Score: C- | Dec 8, 2006

Painfully portentous and more solemn than Santa's funeral, The Architect gets this year's prize for the movie most likely to spoil holiday cheer.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Dec 8, 2006

Despite graphic scenes of drug- and crime-infested buildings where people are forced to live behind bars like prisoners, The Architect still feels stagebound, inert when it needs to be cinematic.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 8, 2006

...A grim little exercise in exorcising middle-class guilt.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 8, 2006

Skids mightily in the transition from three to two dimensions.

| Dec 7, 2006