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The Substance of Fire

R 1996 1h 41m Drama LGBTQ+ List
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

View All (10) Critics Reviews
Globe and Mail Rated: 2.5/4 Apr 12, 2002 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Because its ideas remain murky, it frustrates our expectations. It's not a satisfying film, but that doesn't make it a bad one. Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Robert Faires Austin Chronicle Rated: 3.5/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 7, 2005 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews The actors are all fantastic in their roles, especially [Ron] Rifkin. Rated: 3/4 Aug 1, 2003 Full Review Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice Suggests that there is no family wound that cannot be healed by love and forgiveness. Aug 29, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (9) audience reviews
ashley h 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. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member gr8 cast in this drama Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member 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.. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Some nice performances help cut through the gooey histrionics to make the film somewhat worthwhile. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Substance of Fire

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Cast & Crew

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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