Civic Duty (2006)

56% of critics liked it
(54 reviews)
39% of users liked it
(29,166 ratings)

Where does legitimate concern end and paranoia begin? A man finds himself walking that fine line in this tense independent drama. Terry Allen (Peter Krause) is an accountant who lives a seemingly ordinary life until he loses his job. Unable to buy the new house he was hoping to get for his fiancée,… More Where does legitimate concern end and paranoia begin? A man finds himself walking that fine line in this tense independent drama. Terry Allen (Peter Krause) is an accountant who lives a seemingly ordinary life until he loses his job. Unable to buy the new house he was hoping to get for his fiancée, Marla (Kari Matchett), Terry spends most of time in his apartment, looking for job leads, sending out resumés, and feeling increasingly powerless. As Terry watches more and more stories about the war on terror on cable news channels, he begins developing an intense suspicion of his new neighbor Gabe Hassan (Khaled Abol Naga), an Arab exchange student. Terry notices Gabe keeps late hours, takes out his trash in the middle of the night, and has a lot of visitors of Middle Eastern descent dropping by his flat, and slowly Terry becomes convinced Gabe is involved in terrorist activities. Terry visits Tom Hillary (Richard Schiff), an FBI agent, and tells him about Gabe and his habits; Tom doesn't pay much attention to what Terry has to say, and convinced danger lurks, he decides to take the law into his own hands. Civic Duty received its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Jeff Renfroe
Written By: Andrew Joiner
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 26, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Sep 4, 2007
Studio: Freestyle Releasing/Yari Film Group

Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
A flawed but worthwhile examination of paranoia and clashing cultures in the 21st century.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
It does build up considerable suspense and tension; Renfroe has learned well from Hitchcock.
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
The vivid sense of time and place is the best thing about the initially promising, ultimately irritating psychological thriller Civic Duty.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
As thoughtful as it means to be -- its agenda is outlined by on-the-nose dialogue from its characters -- Civic Duty does little to go beyond this premise.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
A sharp 9/11 twist on Rear Window paranoia, Civic Duty is all the more effective for its chilling plausibility.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
The filmmakers aren't able to pull it off but deserve credit for their attempt to be thought-provoking.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Terrorism themes paranoia = not for kids.
Brian Tallerico, The Deadbolt
See it for Krause's incredibly great work, but be warned that everything around him isn't nearly as good, especially the final reel.
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
mostly suffers from overwriting
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
You know where this is going and that it's going to end badly. The only question is for whom
David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com
If we can ignore the plot's too-often dips into cliché, we just might walk away with a lot on our minds.
Scott Collura, IGN Movies
Eventually it all boils down to cliché, with home invasions by Terry, physical confrontations between Terry and Gabe, a hostage situation, a main character getting gunned down, and all the other standard thriller tropes that might excite the kind of audie
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
Terrorism can make you crazy. Or more accurately, U.S. media hype about terrorism can drive you to believe.
Ted Murphy, Murphy's Movie Reviews
Andrew Joiner's clever and layered screenplay just may be one of the best of the year, particularly as it requires thought and may even spark debate.
Eric Lurio, Entertainment Insiders
Krause and his character are the entire movie. Watching him fall apart is fascinating and the ending has a particularly nice, if expected, twist.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
"Rear Window" updated to post 9-11 corporate downsizing has too many mixed messages to convey the simple fear of a classic thriller.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
There's the faint air of a solid cable movie about Civic Duty...but the questions it raises are provocative enough to make it worth seeing.
Boo Allen, Denton Record Chronicle (TX)
Until it becomes simply a hostage dilemma, the film maintains an uneasy air of mystery and suspicion.
Pete Hammond, Maxim
An intense and startling movie for our times. It hits you right between the eyes.
Angela Baldassarre, Sympatico.ca
A claustrophobic setting and the paranoid concerns of a modern world make Jeff Renfroe's "Civic Duty" an effective psychological thriller.

Read all 20 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Bruce B

This movie hit the screen shortly after 9-11, it was done fast to capitalize on the post 9-11 movie rush. Its not a bad movie but its surly low budget. Our Main Crazy Star is Peter Krause who plays Terry Allen, a loser of a man, lost job, losing his wife, he sits at home watching the… More
This movie hit the screen shortly after 9-11, it was done fast to capitalize on the post 9-11 movie rush. Its not a bad movie but its surly low budget. Our Main Crazy Star is Peter Krause who plays Terry Allen, a loser of a man, lost job, losing his wife, he sits at home watching the news about the 9-11 terrorist and this creates fear in his mind. Next thing you know Gabe Hassan played by Khaled Abol Naga moves into the apartment complex. This is an accurate portrayals of modern-day paranoia in the most of the world, but here in the United States we have once again let our guard down. Gabe is a Middle Eastern Man, and Terry falls into the negative thinking that Gabe is a terrorist. He does everything to the man to get something to point that Gabe is fixing to attack the US. The FBI is involved, Terry just flips out and in the end is put in to a mental Facility and then one day watching the news Terry sees on the news all that he was telling the FBI has unfolded. Its worth 3 stars
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]Bill Hicks once told a funny joke about watching CNN non-stop which he did not recommend doing. If only Terry Allen(Peter Krause) in "Civic Duty" had followed such sage advice...(Not to mention the advice on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to… More
[font=Century Gothic]Bill Hicks once told a funny joke about watching CNN non-stop which he did not recommend doing. If only Terry Allen(Peter Krause) in "Civic Duty" had followed such sage advice...(Not to mention the advice on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Terry is an accountant who has just been laid off and lives with his photographer wife Marla(Kari Matchett). Together, they dream of owning their own house. In the meantime, along with watching the news, he dutifully sends out numerous copies of his resume while being distracted by the suspicious behavior of their new neighbor who is of Middle Eastern descent. To quell his fears, Marla visits him and learns his name is Gabe(Khaled Abol Naga) and that he is a graduate student. That's still not good enough for him, so he contacts an FBI Agent, Tom Hilary(Richard Schiff), who promises to look into it...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]While the banal and uninspired "Civic Duty" certainly has its heart in the right place by exploring the war on error, civil rights, racism and the lynch mob mentality(Terry's owning a gun speaks to his generally being afraid), it stumbles badly with wafer thin chracterizations.(But Richard Schiff does excel...) While the movie may have had a chance if it had been a play(Where the speechifying would have worked better), it is still hard to believe the story progressing beyond a certain point. I am sure a lot of people contact the FBI every day with their suspicions but that's probably as far as it ever goes. Even the situation feels dated by now. Usually after a great catastrophe, news watching is the norm to get as much information as possible but as time wears on, things return to normal as much as possible, which include television viewing patterns.[/font]
Deb S

This movie taps into the post 9/11 paranoia and Peter Krause is believable as the recently laid off accountant, Terry Allen who now is having trouble finding work. He becomes suspicious of his middle-eastern looking neighbor Khaled Abol Naga who has just moved in and seemingly fits… More
This movie taps into the post 9/11 paranoia and Peter Krause is believable as the recently laid off accountant, Terry Allen who now is having trouble finding work. He becomes suspicious of his middle-eastern looking neighbor Khaled Abol Naga who has just moved in and seemingly fits the profile of a terrorist because of his friendship with other Arab looking guys who show up at his place with all kinds of mysterious packages and who has the strange habit of dumping his garbage at odd times at night. Khaled also has ominous looking chemical equipment in his kitchen along with ATM deposit envelopes for what appears to be a money laundering set up for terrorist activities. The ending keeps you guessing as it was never really clear whether or not Krause was paranoid or justified in suspecting his neighbor. My Take: I just think this movie will make more people paranoid. It's is not hard to believe that this kind of bigotry still exist despite our policy of innocent until proven guilty where one should not discriminate based on ethnic culture, religion or color of skin; even if it turns out in the end that you were right all along. It's enough to depress you but will definitely leave you wondering even when it is all over.
William G

A frequently hokey effort to tap into post-9/11 paranoia. Krause puts in good effort.
Leo L

Paranoia. Profile. Hysteria. Truth. An exciting and suspenseful film! Great performances by Peter Krause and Khaled Abol Naga. Worth seeing!
Aurelius D

In a world post 911 these kinds of stories really hit home. You have the main character *who played in my favorite mini series "Lost Room" which was the best thing to come form Sci Fi in a life time next to Eureka* as an accountant that starts the movie getting fired. The… More
In a world post 911 these kinds of stories really hit home. You have the main character *who played in my favorite mini series "Lost Room" which was the best thing to come form Sci Fi in a life time next to Eureka* as an accountant that starts the movie getting fired. The movie progresses with constant news clips talking about terror threat levels and the general spin the media puts on things to scare people and keep people watching. It isn't long before Terry notices that his neighbor looks out of the ordinary, like he fits the MO of a terrorist. What follows is the common dramatic plot of Terry trying to uncover what is really going on and not be a victim but a hero. It's not exactly unique or ground breaking but the story is an important one and an interesting watch.
Moe E

Civic Duty starts out as a comedic look at one of the sheep indoctrinated with the media's post-9/11 "There are terrorists everywhere!" diatribe and gradually evolves into an anti-gun rant with an ending which should satisfy supporters of that agenda.