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The Benefactor

Play trailer 2:10 Poster for The Benefactor Released Jan 15, 2016 1h 32m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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26% Tomatometer 54 Reviews 23% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Consumed by guilt over the accidental death of a couple, an eccentric Philadelphia philanthropist (Richard Gere) provides financial assistance to their pregnant daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her new husband (Theo James).
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The Benefactor

The Benefactor

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Critics Consensus

The Benefactor has Richard Gere and Dakota Fanning, but no clear idea of what to do with either of them, resulting in a drama that never comes anywhere near its intriguing potential.

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Critics Reviews

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Mark Kermode Observer (UK) The Benefactor loses whatever anarchic spark it may have had, leaving us with an increasingly empty symphony of its star's repertoire of heavy breathing, blinking and out-of-context laughing. Rated: 1/5 Feb 28, 2016 Full Review Geoffrey Macnab Independent (UK) Renzi provides a platform for Gere to act in barnstorming fashion but can't work out what to do with any of the other characters. They tend just to stand embarrassed on the sidelines as Gere holds forth and steals every scene in which he appears. Rated: 2/5 Feb 25, 2016 Full Review Kevin Maher Times (UK) The Benefactor is a character portrait in search of a movie. Rated: 2/5 Feb 25, 2016 Full Review Aaron Pinkston Battleship Pretension The Benefactor ultimately doesn't have anything interesting to say about the character other than his surface struggles. Jan 7, 2021 Full Review Ben Nicholson CineVue At the heart of Andrew Renzi's directorial debut The Benefactor is a kernel of an intriguing character study... Surrounding it is a tangled mass of loose narrative threads, none of which offer any real satisfaction. Rated: 2/5 Apr 8, 2019 Full Review Rosalynn Try-Hane Battle Royale With Cheese This is an audacious film about narcissism and digging below the surface of the "good time party guy" to see the demons that lie beneath. However, the film's weakness is that it's a singular movie when it needed to be a dual protagonist movie. Aug 22, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (42) audience reviews
Andrea So many holes in this film, even my husband who normally rolls with plot holes, was like WTF? Hardly anything made sense, but the close talking and Dakota Fanning's utterly awful acting made it worse. The weirdly pat ending made us think, Why did we even bother? Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 07/21/24 Full Review Test T I watched this on DVD recently. When I realised what it was about, I didn't think it would be a film I would enjoy, especially given the generally poor critical reception it has. However, as I began to watch it the film drew me into Franny's world, and I started to take an interest in him. Events move on around him, but the film is only really about him. Richard Gere delivers a powerful and enguaging performace which captured my interest and maintained it throughout the film. So, I'm giving it 3.5 stars, not because I particularly liked it, but because it was well made, well acted and held my attention, which is good enough reason to recommend it in my opinion. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Richard é um ícone, gostei do filme! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review deb l This movie is dreadful. Richard Here over acts to the point where you can't stand it when he comes on the screen. Dakota Fanning rubs her pregnant belly so much and but hardly does anything in this film. I have to say this film sucks. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Richard Gere, every time he is called meets and here he does it once again, with great moments of dramatic acting, but this in itself, is not enough to raise a defective film, with a strange script where in the first part it goes in one direction and in the second in another that has nothing to do with the first. In this way the purpose of the film is not understood very much Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member I find Gere always watchable although he is a little hammy here. Theo does a nice break from brooding teen heart throb we are used to seeing him play. This does a good job creating a creepy sense of dread. But it turns out it’s perpetually in a state of build up but never really delivers. Among the genre of blue balls thriller movies. Not quite interesting enough to be a satisfying and earnest drama, not campy enough to be a guilty pleasure. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/11/18 Full Review Read all reviews
The Benefactor

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Consumed by guilt over the accidental death of a couple, an eccentric Philadelphia philanthropist (Richard Gere) provides financial assistance to their pregnant daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her new husband (Theo James).
Director
Andrew Renzi
Producer
Kevin Turen, Jason Michael Berman, Jay Schuminsky, Thomas B. Fore
Screenwriter
Andrew Renzi
Distributor
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Production Co
Audax Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 15, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 15, 2016
Runtime
1h 32m
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