Mistress

R

1992

1 hr. 52 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

72%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

39%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Struggling filmmaker Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) gets a surprise phone call from Jack Roth (Martin Landau), an ex-Hollywood executive who wants to turn one of Marvin's screenplays into a movie. Marvin thinks his life's ambition is about to become a reality, until he meets the film's financial backers (Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach). Each investor has a young girlfriend whom they force Marvin to offer a role to, and then they also re-write the script until it's unrecognizable.

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Steve D

Never comes close to the sum of its parts.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

jon c

How much of the actress is the actress or the mistress? Struggling filmmaker Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) gets a surprise phone call from Jack Roth (Martin Landau), an ex-Hollywood executive who wants to turn one of Marvin's screenplays into a movie Marvin thinks his life's ambition is about to become a reality, until he meets the film's financial backers (Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach) Each investor has a young girlfriend whom they force Marvin to offer a role to, and then they also re-write the script until it's unrecognizable Not that much happens here to be honest Felt nothing was accomplished by the end The plot goes badly off the rails and it can't decide if it's supposed to be a comedy about Hollywood small-timers trying to get an indie pic off the ground, or a somber drama in which greed and lust overwhelm art A dull misfire that should've been comic gold

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Half-baked "insider Hollywood" comedy with not many laughs and nothing new to say. Great cast though. Two standouts for me: Martin Landau as a sad sack movie producer and Christopher Walken as a unstable actor.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A year into the pandemic now I'm just looking for modern professionally made films and this is one of them. It's well acted and lit and has good camera movement. It's far from exciting. One is very unlikely to watch this film without doing anything else on the side (folding laundry, playing computer), but it makes for perfect secondary viewing from a time when Hollywood put effort and a lot of stars into a movie nobody might ever see, and it happens to be about that too.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Most film's about making a movie within a movie usually aren't that great but this is not one of them. Great acting all around from the whole cast and a great story. Going to watch it again soon.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Frances H

Great cast and darkly funny satiric script about Tinsel Town and the ethics of those who make movies. How could a movie with Robert de Niro, Martin Landau, Danny Aiello, and Eli Wallach be anything else? And a good script! Couldn't ask for more!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/15

Full Review

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Barry Primus

Director

Robert Wuhl

Marvin Landisman

Martin Landau

Jack Roth

Robert De Niro

Evan M. Wright

Danny Aiello

Carmine Rasso

Eli Wallach

George Lieberhof

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David Stratton

Variety

Can't seem to decide if it's supposed to be a comedy about Hollywood small-timers trying to get an indie pic off the ground, or a somber drama in which greed and lust overwhelm art.

May 16, 2008

Full Review

Derek Adams

Time Out

The gags are too obvious; the conflict between art and money is hackneyed; and the plot goes badly off the rails in the later reels.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Stephen Holden

New York Times

"Mistress" abounds with sharp comic performances that never stray into caricature or sentimentality.

Rated: 4/5

May 20, 2003

Full Review

Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

Mistress consists of a series of meetings, some absurd, some touching. Primus works in a simple, unaffected style that gives the film a feeling of the unglamorous, drab, even dreary and depressing side of Tinseltown.

May 23, 2018

Full Review

Quentin Curtis

Independent on Sunday

Director Barry Primus's script lacks punch, but what it has, it doesn't pull.

Dec 8, 2017

Full Review

Chuck O'Leary

FulvueDrive-in.com

Rated: 3/5

May 7, 2007

Full Review

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Synopsis

Struggling filmmaker Marvin Landisman (Robert Wuhl) gets a surprise phone call from Jack Roth (Martin Landau), an ex-Hollywood executive who wants to turn one of Marvin's screenplays into a movie. Marvin thinks his life's ambition is about to become a reality, until he meets the film's financial backers (Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach). Each investor has a young girlfriend whom they force Marvin to offer a role to, and then they also re-write the script until it's unrecognizable.

Director: Barry Primus
Executive Producer: Ruth Charny
Screenwriter: Barry Primus, J.F. Lawton
Production Co: Tribeca Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 1, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $53.6K

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