Peep World (2011)

20% of critics liked it
(25 reviews)
21% of users liked it
(7,999 ratings)

What happens to a rich, neurotic family when one of their own writes a tell-all exposing their dirty secrets? The Meyerwitz family is about to find out. And the timing couldn't be more hilariously awful. As the Meyerwitz clan prepares for the 70th birthday of nasty family patriarch HENRY (Ron… More What happens to a rich, neurotic family when one of their own writes a tell-all exposing their dirty secrets? The Meyerwitz family is about to find out. And the timing couldn't be more hilariously awful. As the Meyerwitz clan prepares for the 70th birthday of nasty family patriarch HENRY (Ron Rifkin), PEEP WORLD, the expose written by youngest son NATHAN (Ben Schwartz) has gone red hot, making a mess of all of their lives. JACK (Michael C. Hall), the oldest son, is failing in his career and now has to bend over backwards to convince his wife LAURA (Judy Greer) that certain, ahem, salacious events in Nathan's book weren't really committed by him. Sister CHERI (Sarah Silverman), a drama queen and struggling actress, can see the PEEP WORLD movie set from her window, and grows increasingly enraged watching a more successful actress play a horribly unflattering version of her. Her solution: sue her younger brother for libel. Meanwhile, black sheep JOEL (Rainn Wilson), a disaster in slow-motion, plots to turn his life around at his family's expense, and MARILYN (Lesley Ann Warren), the children's mother, long-divorced from Henry, still carries a torch for her ex, one that's only inflamed further by the revelations in PEEP WORLD. For his part, the now-famous Nathan cluelessly wonders what the fuss is all about and basks in his success much to the annoyance of all around him. Over the course of 24 hours, this group of likable and unlikable misfits will summon their courage to come together for the "family dinner" they'll never forget. -- (C) IFC Films

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 19 min.
Directed By: Barry W. Blaustein
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 25, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Jul 19, 2011
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Judging by the actors involved in Barry Blaustein's amusing but unpolished comedy, it's fair to assume he has a friends in high places. That's good, since they refine Peter Himmelstein's rough script.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
The heavy-handed "Peep World" has a few laughs sprinkled over its abbreviated running time as it limps to a predictable conclusion.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
By turns flat and strained, "Peep World" is a collection of personality disorders in search of a story.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
A a family circus of dysfunction that's so familiar you may feel tempted to place bets on how everything will shake out, and painless enough that you might not resent doing so.
Karina Longworth, Village Voice
Something's simply wrong when a film with so many comedians yet so few laughs turns Lesley Ann Warren, using plain old-school reaction shots, into the comic MVP.
James Rocchi, MSN Movies
...the film's so flat and sour that when the whole cast are gathered together around a communal dinner table, all you want to do is escape the acid, claustrophobic rancor of its unpleasantness.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
Overwhelmingly unfunny chaos. The filmmakers can't quite decide if they're making a cartoon here, and that fumbling indecision spoils the integrity of the displayed emotions.
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
Flawed family comedy has plenty of conflict, little point.
Robert Levin, Film School Rejects
There's no arc to what's on screen, because the film essentially begins right before the real story's climax, draws things out for 90 minutes and ends with a thud.
Jesse Cataldo, Slant Magazine
The film draws its laughs from the suffering of its characters, knocking them against each other while jury-rigging a spindly plot from their in-fighting.
Andy Klein, Brand X
The ... problem ... is how instantly and repeatedly Peep World recalls TV's Arrested Development ... but not as funny.
David Noh, Film Journal International
One more fighting dysfunctional family has its screen portrait painted and we've seen it all before, done much, much better.
Kimberly Gadette, Indie Movies Online
Dysfunction rages more behind the camera than in front, the amateurish direction matched by hackneyed writing. Simply put: this faltering family plot cries out for a whole other kind of family plot.
Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine
After all this set-up, there's no real release, no payoff to all the balls the creators have put in the air..a movie that has the right feel but none of the delivery.
Jesse Hassenger, Filmcritic.com
mildly amusing
Mark Peikert, New York Press
Himmelstein and Blaustein give us just a peep, when what we really want is a nice, long gape.
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline
While it's nice to see TV actors get a crack at the bigger screen, Peep World barely seems like a movie.
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Peep World subjects us to a series of comic situations that might kindly be called contrived.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
Unreeling like the discarded spawn of 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' it strikes a sour note in the increasingly overcrowded dynfunctional 'black comedy' genre.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A twisted take on notions about the naked truth, whether of dirty laundry dysfunctional families or local porn dives. And while exposing with satirical mischief upscale DNA dark sides, and the pitfalls of public metaphorical mooning. Father Knows Worst.

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

Spencer S

Quirk is my bread and butter. Almost always I side with these critically flawed comedies, because I like the misfit, the outcast, the central character having the mouth of a sailor when they're a ten year old blonde WASP or have an obsession with bees. What could have been a… More
Quirk is my bread and butter. Almost always I side with these critically flawed comedies, because I like the misfit, the outcast, the central character having the mouth of a sailor when they're a ten year old blonde WASP or have an obsession with bees. What could have been a phenomenal, if not clinically brutal portrayal of a waylaid family of misfits comes off as a tepid interpretation of other films' Wikipedia pages. The cast, who all have embodied the kind of weird, disjointed characters that this film is made of, are given very little to use in order to further their storylines along. The entire film is based on the fact that one of four children writes a work of fiction based on his family's dysfunction. The fact that everyone hates each other right off the bat and tells each other on a regular basis could have made for some vicious attacks, a far more eccentric patriarch, and an interconnected obscurity with the rest of the world. There's no wit or sharp dialogue, nothing that comes off as edgy or the definition of fun. Besides that this has been done a thousand times before, and without true oddballs this is just another family drama. They're supposed to have another layer based on the tell-all book written by a brother, showing each sibling's problems and pitfalls and shining a light on the faults that are shocking and obscene; yet we go through the entire film and don't learn anything about them as people. The only thing I could relate to was Rainn Wilson's character. He still holds the reigns as a black sheep, and gives a truly heartbreaking speech near the end expressing the hurt of his brother's exploitation. Sadly his character, the best of the bunch, is severely underwritten. Hall has the most human of all the roles, and the actions he goes through to be in control are wrenching, but the dinner scene felt off track from what was previously shown of him. Instead of fleshing out the main character they used him to create that sucky ending. Oh, and the entire film has voice over narration by Lewis Black, who I'm guessing is only associated with this because it's comedy, and they briefly reveal the family is Jewish. Why? I suspect that's the quirkiest thing they could wrangle, which just makes me depressed. Watch it as a drama, and at least you'll understand some key aspect of family dysfunction, but you won't actually care at the end.
Sophie B

A well written film in terms of structure however there wasn't much going on. It was quite bland and predictable. A good cast seems wasted.
♥˩ƳИИ &

Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Ben Schwartz, Judy Greer, Kate Mara, Taraji P. Henson, Ron Rifkin, Lesley Ann Warren Director: Barry W. Blaustein Summary: When four siblings gather to celebrate their father's 70th birthday, the proverbial… More
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Ben Schwartz, Judy Greer, Kate Mara, Taraji P. Henson, Ron Rifkin, Lesley Ann Warren Director: Barry W. Blaustein Summary: When four siblings gather to celebrate their father's 70th birthday, the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan because one of them has penned a novel populated by characters who strongly resemble his nearest and dearest. How will this dysfunctional family keep it together after everyone has seemingly been hung out to dry? My Thoughts: "I am kinda known for loving these off-beat dysfunctional family flicks, but this one just didn't do it for me. Although I did laugh at a couple things, the film was just not funny. The script and story left something to be desired. Like more of it. It doesn't give you enough of what is so scandalously written in the book. It gives you bits and that isn't enough to keep you intrigued. The acting was good by most, but just not good enough to save the film."
Aaron N

Joel: Do you think that I'm a failure? Mary: Who said that? Joel: My father; my family; pretty much everyone I know. There are ways to make a dysfunctional-family comedy work. Arrested Development will go down as one of the great comedy television shows of all time, because… More
Joel: Do you think that I'm a failure? Mary: Who said that? Joel: My father; my family; pretty much everyone I know. There are ways to make a dysfunctional-family comedy work. Arrested Development will go down as one of the great comedy television shows of all time, because of the wide range of talent split between all of the different members of the family, the dynamic of those relationships, and how super sharp and hilarious the writing was. Peep World feels like an attempt to recreate the spirit of that sort of show and push all of the similar themes into a story that only spans 90 minutes of screen time. The result is very uneven, as there is a great cast present, but the writing is not nearly as sharp or funny as it needs to be. read more at thecodeiszeek.blogspot.com
Laura C

Mildly amusing. Considering the cast I was highly disappointed
Christopher H

Peep World is great in the interest of seeing all of these great actors on screen, but as far as this film allowing these actors to reach their acting potential, it does not even scratch the surface. Similar to the effect of bringing in the best local chefs to cook you… More
Peep World is great in the interest of seeing all of these great actors on screen, but as far as this film allowing these actors to reach their acting potential, it does not even scratch the surface. Similar to the effect of bringing in the best local chefs to cook you spaghetti-O's, Peep World squanders. Most of the characters come off generic and two-dimensional, while the situations they are involved in are sporadic and somewhat unrelated to the film as a whole, even leaving some of the main plot points up in the air by the end.