Synopsis
A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.
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Cast
- Diane LaneLiz Earl
- Anton YelchinFinn Earl
- Donald SutherlandOgden C. Osborne
- Chris EvansBryce
- Kristen StewartMaya
- Paz de la HuertaJilly
- Blu MankumaGates
- Elizabeth PerkinsMrs. Langley
- Christopher ShyerDr. Leffler
- Garry ChalkMcCallum
Recommendations
- 75
ReelViews
The film is worthwhile primarily for the fun, breezy first hour. After that, it's a case of watching to find out how things turn out. - 75
New York Post
Director Griffin Dunne's adaptation of Dirk Wittenborn's fiercely personal novel ambles pleasantly through coming-of-age movie territory, then takes a jarring Agatha Christie detour. - 70
Variety
Whenever Sutherland comes on scene, any inadequacies in the film's depiction of the well-to-do become irrelevant. - 70
Village Voice
Whereas most of the injustices suffered by "Nanny's" nanny are of the skin-deep variety, the hopelessly reductive Fierce People ups the ante. - 67
The A.V. Club
Fierce People's first hour is dominated by brittle social satire, but in its third act, the film takes a jarring turn toward tremblingly sincere melodrama it can't pull off. - 60
The New York Times
When F. Scott Fitzgerald remarked that the rich “are different from you and me,” he might have been thinking of someone like the moody billionaire from Fierce People. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
Not even the always reliable Diane Lane can save this one. - 50
New York Daily News
What might have read as a dense allegory comparing the rituals of the super-rich with the tribal customs of the violent Ishkanani tribe in the Amazon becomes a tedious, over-ripe soap opera on screen.
