Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

The late David Foster Wallace's 1999 short story collection is uneasily adapted here by actor John Krasinski (The Office) in his directing debut. Julianne Nicholson stars as Sara Quinn, a doctoral candidate who interviews a number of men as part of her studies on contemporary American male behavior. Her research, spurred by the end of a long-term relationship, includes taped interviews with a series of volunteers, as well as eavesdropping on conversations that men have among themselves. To its credit, the film brings together a cast of talented actors—Timothy Hutton, Christopher Meloni, Dominic Cooper, Frankie Faison, and Bobby Cannavale, with Krasinski himself playing Sara's ex-boyfriend. But what might sound like a promising concept never really blossoms here. The normally vibrant Nicholson is mostly a silent observer to the male gabbing, while the men are uniformly immature, insecure, and unreliable—in short, hideous. But the worst thing about Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is the inability to craft Wallace's short stories into a cohesive motion picture. Putting forth an absurdly high number of unusually loquacious men who are willing (with no prompting) to describe personal encounters and observations in excessive detail does not translate into an entertaining or enlightening movie watching experience. Not recommended. (P. Hall)