Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 15
  2. Negative: 1 out of 15
  1. 88
    King of the Corner is not plot-driven. It's like life: just one damned thing after another
  2. 75
    A witty and wise midlife comedy, not only represents Peter Riegert's debut as a feature director but gives this gifted veteran performer his juiciest big-screen role in quite some time.
  3. A warm, unexpectedly moving portrait of a man on the verge of what could either be a dreadful or delightful second chapter.
  4. Moments of this film reminded me of Alexander Payne's great library of male dysfunction -- "Election," "About Schmidt," "Sideways" -- not because King of the Corner actually reaches Payne's plane, but because I wish it had tried.
  5. Reviewed by: Jason Anderson
    The mild but affable story of an ad man's midlife crisis, King of the Corner is an actor's film in every way.
  6. 60
    I've never quite figured out what the poker-faced Peter Riegert does as an actor, but his matter-of-fact minimalism is always funny and affecting.
  7. Warm and wise comedy of middle-age malaise.
  8. Reviewed by: Joshua Katzmann
    Riegert and his cowriter, Gerald Shapiro, breathe some fresh air into the material with their credible characters.
  9. King of the Corner has been adapted from Gerald Shapiro's "Bad Jews and Other Stories" and suffers from an odd, disjointed quality.
  11. Peter Riegert's is a labor of love film where you feel love much stronger than you feel the film.
  12. 50
  13. Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    Lacks the stylistic attention to psychological distress that might have lent it maximum impact. Instead, the pic is amiable, kinda charming, visually routine, and incisive in individual sequences.
  14. 40
    It's a low-key actor's showreel, harmless and toothless and sleepy. It'd go pretty well with a glass of warm milk.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. JayE.
    Aug 30, 2005