Synopsis
A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter. This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.
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Cast
- Greg KinnearBob Crane
- Willem DafoeJohn Carpenter
- Rita WilsonAnne Crane
- Maria BelloPatricia Olson / Patrica Crane
- Ron LeibmanLenny
- Kurt FullerWerner Klemperer
- Ed Begley Jr.Mel Rosen
- Michael E. RodgersRichard Dawson
- Michael McKeanVideo Executive
- Christopher NeimanRobert Clary
Recommendations
- 90
Los Angeles Times
In Auto Focus, the strangely wonderful and weirdly touching new film from Paul Schrader, the comedy and the tragedy keep getting mixed up. - 83
Entertainment Weekly
The performances are vividly alive. - 80
L.A. Weekly
Certainly the movie is one of Schrader's most accomplished, and most entertaining, but there's something cold and unforgiving about his vision, delivered with a severity that only a bred-in-the-bone Calvinist could muster. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
On one level, it's an unsettling biopic and an acerbic look at a bygone media age. On another, it's a cautionary tale with uncommon relevance and bite. - 70
Newsweek
It’s not a particularly sexy movie. What’s shocking to Schrader is not Crane’s promiscuity, but his obtuseness. It’s the story of the unbearable lightness of Bob. - 63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
When the bloody climax comes, we look on apathetically, as desensitized to the violence as a pornographer is to sex. - 63
Boston Globe
Uplifting? Not bloody likely. Mesmerizing? Very, thanks to Greg Kinnear's eerie performance as Crane and director Paul Schrader's lucid depiction of the character's happy-go-lucky descent into hell. - 50
Miami Herald
It's a clammy, depressing movie, but not a very illuminating one.
