The Business of Strangers

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The Business of Strangers

R

Released Dec 7, 2001

1h 24m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

95 Reviews

51%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

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.

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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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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

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Neil Smith

BBC.com

The inspired pairing of Channing and Stiles creates real dramatic fireworks.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 15, 2002

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Geoff Pevere

Toronto Star

May be a hermetically sealed experience, but it is also a brilliantly integrated one.

Jan 18, 2002

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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

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B. Ruby Rich

The Nation

A tense chamber-piece.

Feb 25, 2020

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Audience Member

middle to the end it perks up a bit

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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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

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Patrick Stettner

Director

Stockard Channing

Julie Styron

Julia Stiles

Paula Murphy

Frederick Weller

Nick Harris

Mary Testa

Receptionist

Jack Hallett

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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: Susan A. Stover, Robert H. Nathan
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)