The Good Heart

R

Released Apr 30, 2010

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

List

32%

37 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Homeless and saved from almost certain death by a hospital staff, Lucas (Paul Dano) has nowhere to turn. The hospital staffers, though, are so taken with his kindness and generosity that they take up a collection to give him a fresh start. But when he's discharged, Lucas meets some fellow homeless people and gives away all the money he's just received. His roommate at the hospital, Jacques (Brian Cox), is also affected by the young man, and offers him a job at his bar.

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Derek W

A charming film and probably my favorite Brian Cox performance. The poetics are a bit on the nose, but forgivable in contrast to characters' hard living. Dano and Cox carry this all very well against a backdrop of deprivation and dissolution.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/16/22

Full Review

Brian L

Just not funny. Racist but not funny. Is hanging little animals funny? Not at all funny.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/08/22

Full Review

Leslie S

We really enjoyed it, and had several laugh out loud moments. Both Paul Dano and Brian Cox were fantastic. USUALLY we check RT before watching any movie, and follow their advice, in this case I'm glad we didn't check first or we might've missed this character piece.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/30/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Brain Cox outstanding liked the twist end

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Frances H

I LIKED IT. Paul Dano and Brian Cox are such good actors.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári's drama is a solid, well made and written drama about an odd kinship between an old bartender Jacques (Brian Cox) and a wandering homeless young man Lucas (Paul Dano). The setting is New York, the starting point a failed suicide attempt by Lucas that brings the two characters together. "The Good Heart" is darkly humorous, but also serves as smart social commentary that slowly crawls beneath the skin of its characters. The narrative is brutal but compassionate towards the two men who are united in hopelessness. Jacques knows he's dying soon of a failing heart, adamant to make Lucas his successor. But the unfortunate boy seems to have too good a heart for business. The film gets a bit too sentimental at times, but this can be largely excused as Kári's take on storytelling is clearly one of a modern Dickens fable. The cinematography reflects this with a seeing-beauty-among-the-rubble approach. What makes the movie is the leading actors. Isild Le Besco has been given a bit too little to work with as a modern damsel in distress, but Paul Dano delivers again. Brian Cox truly shines as the deeply misanthropic and specifically misogynistic Jacques. Kári has written some marvelous dialog for the actors to build their characters with.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

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Dagur Kári

Director

Brian Cox

Jacques

Paul Dano

Lucas

Isild Le Besco

April

Bill Buell

Roger Verne

Susan Blommaert

Nurse Nora

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Laura Kern

Film Comment Magazine

The relationship of the characters played by Cox and Dano, more innocent than the dynamic the two actors explored nine years ago in L.I.E., makes for an eccentric buddy-film gone right.

Nov 13, 2013

Full Review

Ian Buckwalter

NPR

The movie's two bright spots are Cox and Dano, who perform excellently despite the dull inevitabilities the script forces on them.

Rated: 4.6/10

Jul 18, 2010

Full Review

Mark Feeney

Boston Globe

Cox doesn't so much chew the scenery as inhale it. Dano looks on in awe. Who can blame him? For that matter, who can blame Cox?

Rated: 1.5/4

May 13, 2010

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Audiences will have no problem losing themselves in this rather enjoyable little character study.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 22, 2023

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

A solid film buoyed by great performances, despite its flawed denouement and unnecessarily sappy message that seems tacked on as an afterthought.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 5, 2019

Full Review

Monika Bartyzel

Collider

The film is a moderately interesting look into matters of the heart, one that would be better served as a sharply edited short, than a meandering and sometimes depth-free feature.

Apr 10, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Homeless and saved from almost certain death by a hospital staff, Lucas (Paul Dano) has nowhere to turn. The hospital staffers, though, are so taken with his kindness and generosity that they take up a collection to give him a fresh start. But when he's discharged, Lucas meets some fellow homeless people and gives away all the money he's just received. His roommate at the hospital, Jacques (Brian Cox), is also affected by the young man, and offers him a job at his bar.

Director: Dagur Kári
Executive Producer: Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Robin O'Hara, Scott Macaulay
Screenwriter: Dagur Kári
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: ZDF/Arte, Palomar Pictures, Ex Nihilo, Nimbus Film, Zik Zak Kvikmyndir, Forensic Films, Wild Bunch
Rating: R (A Disturbing Image|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 30, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $20.0K

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