Boogie Woogie (2009)

36% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
19% of users liked it
(831 ratings)

This jet-black comedy of manners observes the doings and intersections of many despicable characters, including egomaniacal, self-serving artists, soulless agents, and nasty sexual predators. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Duncan Ward
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 23, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Sep 14, 2010
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Stephen Holden, New York Times
[The film's characters] are so repellent that almost everyone outside the movie's fetid hothouse will want to flee to fresher air.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Goes over the top now and then, but overall it's a lot of nasty fun.
Rex Reed, New York Observer
A tepid spoof that only occasionally evokes a reluctant smile.
Aaron Hillis, Village Voice
Director Duncan Ward tries way too hard to nail a way too easy target in his sub-Altman ensemble spoof of the overpriced, overhyped, overly pretentious modern-art scene.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Devilishly cynical eavesdropper art snob fare peering into the pretentious when not cruel machinations transpiring in the world of creative merchandise commerce.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Devilishly cynical eavesdropper art snob fare peering into the pretentious when not cruel machinations transpiring in the world of creative merchandise commerce.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Less the free-form, jazzy ensemble satire on the art world it aspires to be than an over-elaborate and under-funny undertaking by high quality actors who should know better.
Marcy Dermansky, About.com
The film cannot sustain the giddy, fast pace that sets it off.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
More of a paper cut, but one that's sufficiently nasty in a minor key, landing a few body blows where it matters the most, while successfully detailing the betrayal and schmoozing it takes to get to the top.
Pete Hammond, Back Stage
Faux Altman sexual wallow in which a lot of fine actors are wasted on pretentious mumbo jumbo.
Maitland McDonagh, Miss FlickChick
The art-world satire Boogie Woogie is a monumental piece of squandered potential, arch but not witty, mean without being perceptive, its most outrageous shocks little more than static sparks.
Steve Ramos, Boxoffice Magazine
May be the most well connected comedy in years-although many of the artists featured will probably experience remorse after watching the haphazard results.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
This deliciously perverse, splashy, lively collage of the high-end contemporary London art scene provides a guilty pleasure to students of sex, greed and manipulation. Aesthetics is beside the point.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
Overstuffed and occasionally meandering while boasting a terrific ensemble cast and a radiant, brave performance by Gillian Anderson. It's an unflinchingly honest, provocative potpourri of the harsh realities of the art world.
Sam Adams, AV Club
The cast of superficial backstabbers, casual philanderers, and gibberish-spouting phonies has no original characters, but at least a few of the actors attack their roles with a zest that offsets their two-dimensionality.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
The plodding direction, pedestrian cinematography and second-rate script prevent a good cast doing more than help the story along.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
There's a terrific idea in this film, and an astounding cast, but author Moynihan seems determined to get every tiny thread of his novel into this script, leaving the movie overcrowded and fragmented.
Neil Smith, Total Film
An all-star cast flails about to no discernible purpose in Duncan Ward's Altman-esque satire, a flaccid take on the London art scene that doesn't appear to have benefited from having Damien Hirst as consultant.
Michelle Orange, Movieline
Neither a wholly realized satire or a successfully drawn ensemble piece, Boogie Woogie's got the moves but can't quite find the beat.
Armond White, New York Press
Director Duncan Ward laggardly paces Danny Moynihan's script. This doesn't help what might well be an accurate portrayal of bourgeois decadence -- especially when Ward is given to lecherous emphasis while emphasizing his characters' lechery.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

Average. It started out very bad - over the top hammy acting, very unconvincing and just all round bad. Thankfully it does pick up a little, and it has a good cast including Amanda Seyfried, Heather Graham, Gillian Anderson and Alan Cumming. Can't say I loved it,and they could… More
Average. It started out very bad - over the top hammy acting, very unconvincing and just all round bad. Thankfully it does pick up a little, and it has a good cast including Amanda Seyfried, Heather Graham, Gillian Anderson and Alan Cumming. Can't say I loved it,and they could all do much better than this movie, but it was worth at least one watch. I think.... To be honest, I am not sure what they were trying to do with this. Was it meant to be funny or clever or maybe just titilating.
Manu G

Not a good movie, it kinda has all actors that can't act in a single movie. Story was kinda sucky and non interesting. A comedy of manners set against the backdrop of contemporary London and the international art scene.
Chris G

I am so sick of these fucking ensemble films. It was fresh and new in the '90's. Well here's a damn news flash: the '90's were ten years ago. Let's try to do something different or at least use a different structure. Instead we get a handful of people… More
I am so sick of these fucking ensemble films. It was fresh and new in the '90's. Well here's a damn news flash: the '90's were ten years ago. Let's try to do something different or at least use a different structure. Instead we get a handful of people whose stories intersect each other at various times and places. I'm not complaining about that. I'm pissed because it's used to try to make a movie better than it actually is, which is the case with Boogie Woogie. Here's the plot: Christopher Lee owns a painting called the Boogie Woogie. Everyone wants to buy it in one way or another. All of those other people screw each other, literally or otherwise. That's the extent of this picture. Screwing. Everyone comes out screwed. The characters and the audiences. I spent a dollar and forty cents on this garbage and feel shafted myself. I'm not going to go over the cast because I just don't want to. Let's just say that they are too good to be in crap like this. It's becoming more and more common for high end Hollywood stars to do garbage by third rate studios in between big budget movies that have actually been nurtured. I'm not defending Hollywood, but let's face it.Going through reviews the low end films have been just as bad as the Hollywood product. Boogie Woogie follows in that trend. It's a movie about art that tries to be provocative, but it's not. It's just a slow, boring process where we run a title sequence, people act badly with bad dialogue and plot points, finally ending with the end credits and you can finally turn it off. I try to avoid turning anything off. I will do myself by falling asleep, but that doesn't count. I'm talking about getting up and turning off the TV or leaving a theater. I can't do it. There's a movie sitting in my Blu ray right now that I said was a piece of shit a third of the way in, yet I'll probably finish it because I just have to know how bad this is going to be. It's like being a masochist. Sorry for going off on a tangent. Boogie Woogie is crap. You'll need a scorecard for the infidelity. You'll need a drink when it's over. You'll wonder how much bullshit was shoveled for so many good actors to be in a piece of shit like this.
Veronique K

obviously this movie tries hard to be smart (or just clever?) and cynical on the absurdities of avant-garde world of upper-class art galleries. and the story all begins with an abstract art-piece called boogie-woogie, then you see how those top-drawer people cold-bloodedly turns every… More
obviously this movie tries hard to be smart (or just clever?) and cynical on the absurdities of avant-garde world of upper-class art galleries. and the story all begins with an abstract art-piece called boogie-woogie, then you see how those top-drawer people cold-bloodedly turns every monstrosity of life into a justified name of art, like the picture of burned victim, live lesbian porno documentary, the remains from a girl's miscarriage...and the crew of art-people are all promiscuous perverts who attempt to profit from others' misfortunes and exploit them as some potentiality of an artsy piece...everyone is grinning with sheer horrifying artistic delight at the end of movie..under its disjointed surface of interweaven stories of its characters, the movie does have a message to express, that is what redeems it from a complete bore. (frankly it's kinda dreary and not so fun to watch) the sardonic part is that heather graham who makes her career turning point by the roller-girl role in boogie nights now decides to dive into a live-cam lesbian porno scene while amanda seyfried inherits her roller-skating shoes to wriggle her butt around to tantalize every male passerby (what a homage to boogie nights). yes, the movie features a lot of lesbian scenes but none of them are hot at all. now i finally grasp that sex is only enticing (to me) only when there's some passion and smoldering emotions which successfully transpires through the actors' beautiful bodies and angelic faces, whether it's MF or FF or MM..(now i realize the romanticist part in me, thanks to this movie for being so abrasive on that subject matter). and frankly the actress who plays the lesbian artist is annoying (who cares what her name is), or as a matter of face, every character in boogie woogie is despicably narcissistic, inhumanly objectionable and ridiculously goofy except the characters of gillian anderson and amanda seyfried.(who, at least, have some basic decency and salvaging innocence)
Walter M

In "Boogie Woogie," Mrs. Rhinegold(Joanna Lumley) is trying to sell off their priceless art collection to pay mounting debts, even over her husband's(Christopher Lee) strenuous objections. Regardless, Art Spindle(Danny Huston, somehow more unctuous than usual) has a… More
In "Boogie Woogie," Mrs. Rhinegold(Joanna Lumley) is trying to sell off their priceless art collection to pay mounting debts, even over her husband's(Christopher Lee) strenuous objections. Regardless, Art Spindle(Danny Huston, somehow more unctuous than usual) has a buyer in the persons of Jean(Gillian Anderson) and Bob Maclestone(Stellan Skarsgard), avid art collectors. In other news, Art's assistant Beth(Heather Graham) is looking to strike out on her own while shopping for a new pair of breasts. To its credit, "Boogie Woogie" does not take the low road with yet another facile send up of the art world. In fact, it has a couple of things to say about turning yourself into a work of art and the soullessness of selling art works. Sadly, that same lack of emotion spills over to the movie in general, making it a slow motion wreck where a surfeit of barely related characters collide into each other without creating any sparks. Even an excellent cast(Charlotte Rampling is around here somewhere) needs something to work with. Tomorrow, there will be a lesson on how to properly utilize an excellent cast in a movie, so take notes. There will be a quiz later.
Christopher H

Sexually charged and overly hip, Duncan Ward's "Boogie Woogie" is wildly perverse and devastatingly disclosed. Centered around the art world and a famous painting, the lives of those invested unravel on screen. Filled with gorgeous women (Heather Graham, Amanda… More
Sexually charged and overly hip, Duncan Ward's "Boogie Woogie" is wildly perverse and devastatingly disclosed. Centered around the art world and a famous painting, the lives of those invested unravel on screen. Filled with gorgeous women (Heather Graham, Amanda Seyfried, and Gillian Amderson) as well as two amazing performances from Christopher Lee and Danny Huston, the film gains back in performances what it loses in being inordinately enigmatic.
Doctor S

Wow, talk about a movie with an incurable identity crisis. I have no idea what tone director Duncan Ward wanted to take, it seems he thought he'd try them all in case something stuck. Nothing did, unless 'fail' is a genre.
Bill C

Its all about Money and Sex around art dealing... and really more about the sex. You really learn nothing about any of the characters and watch the rotating paring and coupling.
Lovable M

The movie seemed way too rushed and was underdeveloped. It comes across as though they didn't know what direction to go, so they just went all over the place....kinda like that splatter painting shown in the beginning. This had potential to be a good, but totally fell short.