tlamovies.com

Review

In a how-do-you-top-that second effort after his controversial debut film In the Company of Men, writer-director LaBute doesn't disappoint with this equally controversial, funny and penetrating look at a group of male friends and their affairs and camaraderie. Stiller is Jerry, a self-important professor whose routine bull sessions with Barry (Eckhart) and Cary (Patric) form the core of the film.

But LaBute is much more interested in the dynamics of male-female relationships, and uses these get-togethers as a sounding board for his (characters’) most inner thoughts. Keener is excellent as Jerry’s current fling, and her budding lesbian is the most interesting of these sexual provocateurs. Though Patric’s steam-room tale of earlier sexual exploits is an unsettling and hypnotic scene which is certain to be the most talked about piece from the film.