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      The Business of Strangers

      R Released Dec 7, 2001 1h 24m Drama List
      81% 95 Reviews Tomatometer 51% 2,500+ Ratings Audience Score Julie Styron (Stockard Channing) thinks she is going to be fired, but instead discovers that she is being promoted. Trapped in an airport hotel, she wants to celebrate but finds only the company of her young assistant, Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles). As the night progresses, the two women get to know each other. They flirt, they drink, they lie; personal flaws are revealed and exposed. But at the end of the night their relationship turns and becomes a complex battle of power, authority, and wit. Read More Read Less
      The Business of Strangers

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      Critics Consensus

      The Business of Strangers showcases a complex, compelling performance by Channing. Her interactions and clashes with Stiles make for riveting viewing.

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      Audience Reviews

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      Steve D Doesn't amount to much especially with its wrongheaded ending. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/25/23 Full Review don s Two strangers who work for the same company, one as the CEO and the other as what would now be an IT person (but then was an AV technician), meet in a bar after the AV woman blows a deal for the CEO by arriving 45 minutes late. They decide to hang out together for no good reason and cause havoc in the life of a headhunter the CEO appears to know more than casually. This drama is boring. Color by numbers stuff in TV movie production living color. Nothing new or interesting presented. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Stiles and Channing were good in this and they were also the best part of this movie. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member The Business of Strangers is about the world of those women jockeying their lives in the phallocentric spheres of our society. It's a great movie done with very little. The good. Simple yet very elegant mood and settings. Solid editing. Interesting, realistic, and straight forward story. Nicely put together characters who evolve before our eyes. The actors. In this production, we can see Julia Stiles starting to spread her wings and some of her potential. However, as much as I love her, Stockard Channing is the real star here. She portrays the power business woman, her struggle and her changes of mood, with incredible clarity. The bad. The emptiness of ordinary lives usually filled with glitz and details by Hollywood can be slightly disorienting here. I think it's perfect, but not for everyone. The ugly. Nothing. The result. Very low key character driven film. Don't expect a dazzling display, turn on your brain, and you won't be disappointed. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member middle to the end it perks up a bit Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Nothing is what it seems, not even in this movie which tries to be interesting..but fails. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

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      Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com In that millisecond glower is all the fear, frustration, pent-up emotion, aggression and pure unadulterated self-loathing imaginable and it says volumes about where Strangers is heading. Rated: 3.5/4 Jun 19, 2003 Full Review Empire Magazine Rated: 3/5 May 2, 2003 Full Review Marrit Ingman Austin Chronicle Rated: 3/5 Mar 10, 2003 Full Review Matthew Breen Out Magazine [The Business of Strangers] is best when the women join forces to take down a smarmy headhunter, make lewd lesbian sex jokes, and talk in the kind of theatrically intense dialogue rarely found in films these days. May 25, 2022 Full Review B. Ruby Rich The Nation A tense chamber-piece. Feb 25, 2020 Full Review MaryAnn Johanson Flick Filosopher [A]n uncomfortably suspenseful tale - [cast] with two immensely capable and powerful actresses - of a game of power and control played between two women in a realm film only too rarely lets women roam in: the political swamp of the corporate world. Nov 19, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Julie Styron (Stockard Channing) thinks she is going to be fired, but instead discovers that she is being promoted. Trapped in an airport hotel, she wants to celebrate but finds only the company of her young assistant, Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles). As the night progresses, the two women get to know each other. They flirt, they drink, they lie; personal flaws are revealed and exposed. But at the end of the night their relationship turns and becomes a complex battle of power, authority, and wit.
      Director
      Patrick Stettner
      Producer
      Scott McGehee, David Siegel
      Screenwriter
      Patrick Stettner
      Distributor
      IFC Films
      Production Co
      i5 Films
      Rating
      R (Strong Language|Some Sexuality)
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Dec 7, 2001, Wide
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Jan 19, 2017
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $1.0M
      Runtime
      1h 24m
      Sound Mix
      Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
      Aspect Ratio
      Flat (1.85:1)