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The Substance of Fire

Play trailer Poster for The Substance of Fire R 1996 1h 41m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 36% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A dictatorial New York publishing magnate (Ron Rifkin) goes into decline after his heirs rebel and take over his company.
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The Substance of Fire

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 01/01/2000
3/4
Because its ideas remain murky, it frustrates our expectations. It's not a satisfying film, but that doesn't make it a bad one. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/07/2005
2/5
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 08/01/2003
3/4
The actors are all fantastic in their roles, especially [Ron] Rifkin. Go to Full Review
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice 08/29/2002
Suggests that there is no family wound that cannot be healed by love and forgiveness. Go to Full Review
Scott Weinberg eFilmCritic.com 07/25/2002
4/5
Christopher Null Filmcritic.com 02/14/2001
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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ashley h @ashleyhobgood87 01/23/2016 The Substance of Fire is a decent film. It is about a publishing magnate who refuses to publish a book by his son's male lover so the kids buy out their father and run it themselves! Tony Goldwyn and Timmy Hutton give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Daniel J. Sullivan did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the drama. See more 03/27/2015 gr8 cast in this drama See more 12/03/2014 Being based on a stage play, it is no surprise that this film is talky and contains little action. It is less predictable that the story will be so slow moving and its themes so muddled and unclear. The acting is excellent, especially a brilliant performance by Ron Rifkin. It kept my interest by virtue o9f the strong performances but it did not seem to ever get anywhere. At the end you are left in search of any meaning for the entire movie/play -- if you succeed in imposing some meaning on it all, you should be moved by this fine set of performances, if not you are likely to feel it was all a waste of talent for a story that said nothing. I barely found some meaning but not anything very impressive.. See more 10/26/2012 Substance of Fire has very little substance or fire. Hutton continued the downward movement of his career while Sarah Jessica Parker hadn't quite gotten the uplift in hers. See more 11/09/2010 What a piece of crap and it takes a lot for me to rate a movie this low. I like the writing of Jon Robin Baitz (big fan of Brothers and Sisters) and I am a fan of many of the fine actors in this movie but there was no theme and one of the worst endings of any movie I've seen in a long time. Do NOT waste your time. See more 11/05/2008 Some nice performances help cut through the gooey histrionics to make the film somewhat worthwhile. See more Read all reviews
The Substance of Fire

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Movie Info

Synopsis A dictatorial New York publishing magnate (Ron Rifkin) goes into decline after his heirs rebel and take over his company.
Director
Daniel Sullivan
Producer
Jon Robin Baitz, Randy Finch, Ron Kastner
Screenwriter
Jon Robin Baitz
Production Co
Miramax
Rating
R
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Box Office (Gross USA)
$81.6K
Runtime
1h 41m
Sound Mix
Surround
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