While Avrech's script, which might as well be a sci-fi film in its depiction of NYPD operations, is mostly at fault, Griffith casts a dubious shadow over the proceedings.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 10, 2020

A Stranger Among Us is rife with laughably heavy-handed instances of plot and character development...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 3, 2016

A Stranger Among Us isn't emotionally on a much higher level than a Harlequin romance, but Lumet keeps the actors in front of us, and we enjoy watching them.

| May 3, 2014

[Lumet] may be the quintessential New York director, but A Stranger Among Us argues that he should stay out of Brooklyn.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 3, 2014

Director Sidney Lumet is obviously fascinated by the Hasidic community, and he displays this fascination by presenting the Jewish characters and settings with affection and respect.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 3, 2014

Although it's enjoyable as a bittersweet, fish-out-of-water love story, Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us is less effective when it transforms itself into an exotic whodunit.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 3, 2014

A Stranger Among Us is an unwieldy yarn that plays passion against faith and tradition in a most unconvincing manner.

| May 3, 2014

If I were a rich man, I wouldn't have had to see A Stranger Among Us.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 3, 2014

Scenes of life among the Hasidim are soft and amber-tinged, in keeping with Lumet's idealized conception of their lives. The effect is so pronounced that it begins to grow comical.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 3, 2014

A Stranger Among Us is eerily devoid of precisely the kind of urban detail and atmosphere that has always given Lumet`s work its authority, even when his storytelling falters.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 3, 2014

Despite the high-concept kitchiness of its premise, A Stranger Among Us is a satisfying drama with genuine star quality at its core.

| May 3, 2014

Lumet made the regrettable choice of sacrificing credible character development and a worthy script for the sake of maintaining Hasidic authenticity and attenuated scenes of religious observances.

| May 3, 2014

Griffith's artless embodiment of the script's deranged idea of tough-gal gumption isn't as amusing as it should be. She's a B-picture heroine stuck in an absurdly self-conscious prestige project.

Full Review | May 3, 2014

There's apparently something about Hasidic Jews that makes normally talented and reasonable filmmakers turn otherwise straightforward thrillers into harebrained hootfests.

| May 3, 2014

It's a great-looking picture, photographed in glowing tones by Andrzej Bartkowiak, a regular collaborator on Lumet's films.

| May 3, 2014

Like Griffith's character, the film falls in love with the traditionalist Hassids, choking on scene after scene of ethnic dancing and stuck-on beards, every interior bathed in a golden Hovis advert glow.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 3, 2014

A career low-point for both Griffith and director Lumet who, frankly, should have known better.

| May 3, 2014

Released in British cinemas as Close to Eden, this is a flop under any name.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 3, 2014

A Stranger Among Us is offered primarily as a Melanie Griffith star vehicle. That's too bad. It's a story with a hopeful and well-meaning message.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 3, 2014

Stuck with a permanently detached lead actress who juggles snappy cop jargon and sex appeal with all the concentration of pothead.

| Original Score: C | Jul 16, 2012