Weekend Movie Forecast: Capitalism: A Love Story or "Hideous Men"

We're sorry to see nice-guy John Krasinski's directorial debut, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, getting such lackluster reviews, but he really had his work cut out for him adapting David Foster Wallace's short-story collection. Nathan Rabin at the Onion laments that the film "consists of little more than a series of monologues, and plays like some abstract theater exercise, hosted by a college coffeehouse... Krasinski literalizes Wallace’s stylistic love of asides too much, but it helps that he’s aware enough of his movie’s limitations to keep Brief Interviews blessedly short.

"It also helps that he saves the most important monologue—one in which a seemingly nice guy explains to his ex-girlfriend why he cheated on her—for the end, and for himself. Krasinski nails the speech, though it’s such a 'Look at me!' scene that it raises the question of whether Krasinski made this movie because he really loves Wallace’s work, or because just he wanted to show Hollywood that the loveable doof from 'The Office' can actually act."