'

The Substance of Fire

Play trailer

The Substance of Fire

R

1996

1h 41m

Drama

LGBTQ+

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

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

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

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Daniel Sullivan

Director

Ron Rifkin

Isaac Geldhart

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Geldhart

Tony Goldwyn

Aaron Geldhart

Timothy Hutton

Martin Geldhart

Ronny Graham

Louis Foukold

View more photos

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

Most Popular at Home Now