God's Pocket

R

Released May 9, 2014

1 hr. 28 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

36%

99 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A boozy lowlife (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist (Richard Jenkins) and the young man's mother complicate matters.

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Critics Consensus

Well-cast but frustratingly clichéd, God's Pocket fails to strike a sensible balance between comedy and drama.

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Elizabeth D

Wish i had watched this sooner - superb, thoughtful direction and scripting. The attention of detail is pure joy.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/27/24

Full Review

Jelisije J

You ever get a movie where the side characters and their side stories are a lot more interesting then the main characters in the main plot of the film? Well if not then there is this film.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/24

Full Review

Dan C

Surprised at the low ratings for this one, great cast / some good performances (especially Richard Jenkins) and I liked the slowly rolled out story of bumbling souls who can't seem to connect, no matter how badly they want to.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/16/24

Full Review

KB B

This was such an entertaining movie with a great cast and storyline. It had humor, drama and plenty of strangeness. It's definitely worth the watch.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/24

Full Review

Goran M

The movie is irritating and difficult to watch from the beginning, It does not represent real life at all. It's far from a bad movie, but I don't recommend watching it for 5 reasons, shallow plot, predictable plot, everyone has sex with everyone in turn, bad acting, boy's death is somehow irrelevant to the plot, police doesn't exist, boobs everywhere, unreasposable parenty taking bets on horses for no reason, throwing away money by responsible persons, ... Don't waste your time on this stupidity, stupidity, stupidity, stupidity...

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

12/26/23

Full Review

The conscious O

This movie did not get enough credit for its production. If it seems too cliche for some then it is evident some of these people don't have enough complexities in their own life to appreciate the depth of these characters. Life is full of unspoken correlations as we share some of the pain and the intricate feelings this movie flawlessly captured. I frankly gave up on Movies in general and then I stumbled upon this one without my own choosing. Had I not watched this movie in the tumultuous times of our lives now, I never would have reconsidered that there is hope for real producers who could play with mundane pain yet ease your suffering to a simple place of normalcy. Well done.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/08/23

Full Review

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John Slattery

Director

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Mickey Scarpato

Richard Jenkins

Richard Shelburn

Christina Hendricks

Jeannie Scarpato

John Turturro

Actor

Caleb Landry Jones

Leon Scarpato

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

Slattery shows real promise as a director, guiding his actors with ease and effectively evoking a very specific time and place.

Jun 18, 2016

Full Review

Jonathan Romney

Observer (UK)

The film skates unevenly between spit-and-sawdust realism, mean-streets crime anecdote and queasy black comedy, but it's never boring.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 10, 2014

Full Review

Donald Clarke

Irish Times

Everyone gets at least one good scene, but the cumulative effect of all these rampaging tragedies and outbreaks of black comedy is ultimately rather exhausting.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 8, 2014

Full Review

Robert Sims

Lights Camera Austin

While the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman finds mild humor in his smalltime criminal's lethargic efforts to appease his grieving wife, first-time director John Slattery is unable to consistently maintain the tragicomic tone he strives for.

Jan 22, 2022

Full Review

Dan Brightmore

NME (New Musical Express)

Those looking for one last great Hoffman piece won't find it here.

Rated: 2.5/5

May 26, 2021

Full Review

Jonah Koslofsky

The Spool

This might sound harsh, but God's Pocket is a movie that has no business existing.

Apr 13, 2021

Full Review

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Synopsis

A boozy lowlife (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist (Richard Jenkins) and the young man's mother complicate matters.

Director: John Slattery
Executive Producer: Wendy Neu, Mark Kamine, Michael J. Mailis, Galt Niederhoffer, Tom Valerio, Bill Perry, Frank Brenner, Stefan Sonnenfeld
Screenwriter: John Slattery, Alex Metcalf
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Park Pictures, Cooper's Town
Rating: R (Sexual Content|Language Throughout|Violence)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $104.4K

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