Synopsis
In the early 1960s, teenager Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright) becomes obsessed with his new neighbor, Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol), a divorcée and free spirit. Stafford spies on Caswell as she meets with strange men, and, despite the warnings of his conservative parents, he begins working for her as a gardener. Amid rumors of her affair with President Kennedy, the two become close, but political intrigue surrounding her acquaintances soon infringes on their friendship.
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Cast
- Gretchen MolCatherine Caswell
- James RebhornLucian Carver
- Cameron BrightAdam Stafford
- Noah WyleMike Stafford
- Mark PellegrinoGraham Caswell
- Perrey ReevesAdrienne Stafford
- Jimmy BellingerJimmy
- Jermaine CrawfordAndre
- Jack RubySelf (archive footage)
- Austin MajorsAdditional voice
Recommendations
- 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
The reason to see An American Affair is Gretchen Mol. She has a mild, natural way of holding herself that's likably unactressy--in every film, she seems both smart and grounded. - 70
Washington Post
The film rises above its conventions. Just when it seems to be a fable of sexual initiation, An American Affair pivots away from sex. Just when it seems to be a re-dredging of the Kennedy mystique, it pushes past history. Thoughtfully and imperfectly, it dramatizes the flight from childhood, the surrender to adulthood and the pieces of us that survive. - 50
New York Post
Even Oliver Stone would giggle at the notion that the CIA couldn't reach JFK through any means except via one of his blond playmates. - 40
Village Voice
Only Noah Wyle, as Adam's unreadable dad, rises above the muck; he deserves his Tarantino-aided resurrection sooner rather than later. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
A coming-of-age tale and a JFK assassination conspiracy movie. The first half of that equation works nicely...But the assassination story line is absurd. - 30
Variety
Like many aspects of An American Affair, the music and the lopsided dramatic priorities take the viewer right out of the movie. - 30
NPR
Hard to say what's dumber, the premise or the characters in William Olsson's trashily preposterous An American Affair. - 30
The New York Times
Were it a farce instead of an earnest, paranoid thriller with pretensions to historicity, An American Affair might not seem so offensively exploitative. The fact that it is quite well acted, especially by Ms. Mol, who has the air of a sophisticated 1960s party animal down pat, only compounds the insult.
