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Off the Black
Directed by
James Ponsoldt
R
2006
1h 34m
Drama
6.5
65%
57%
Watch Free
An aging, disillusioned alcoholic (Nolte) gets a younger friend (Morgan) and wants him to pose as his son at a school reunion.
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Cast of Off the Black
Nick Nolte
Ray Cook
Trevor Morgan
Dave Tibbel
Rosemarie DeWitt
Debra
Noah Fleiss
Todd Hunter
Johnathan Tchaikovsky
Paul Michaels
Timothy Hutton
Mr. Tibbel
James Ponsoldt
Robby / Director / Writer
Darrell Larson
Doctor
Marlyne Barrett
Nancy
Michael Higgins
Al Cook
John Tuell
Jonas Worthy
Sally Kirkland
Marianne Reynolds
Peter Van Wagner
Horton
Nancy Johnston
Tina Evans
Scott Macaulay
Producer
Robin O'Hara
Producer
Off the Black Ratings & Reviews
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
The leads are good, and Timothy Hutton is memorably off-putting as the pitcher's disengaged dad. But having created the aching umpire, Ponsoldt occupies him with some fairly shopworn situation.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bob Longino
A modest drama fueled by Nick Nolte's gutsy lead performance as a disheveled 57-year-old junkyard proprietor who's been as flattened by life as the rusty old cars he crushes.
AV Club
Noel Murray
Nolte almost makes it work.
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Off the Black is a small, dry, emotionally loaded short story that has been carried to film like baked fish to a platter.
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Writer-director James Ponsoldt's film treats big subjects -- loneliness, coming-of-age and father-son relationships -- with such half-baked conviction, it's a wonder the screen doesn't redden with embarrassment.
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
...There's nothing too small about Nolte's performance. He's the perfect companion for a rookie feature film director looking to make a good first impression.
Chicago Sun-Times
Teresa Budasi
The beauty of this film lies in its sense of promise. All the characters are in crisis, yet no one completely falls apart.
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
There's something very right with Off the Black in terms of pure emotion and performance craft.
L.A. Weekly
Tim Grierson
Despite some nice touches, this is the sort of too-precious indie film that gives its characters unnecessary quirks (like diabetes) to make them more 'real'.
New York Post
Kyle Smith
If your film is as downbeat and deflated as this one, you had better be leading up to a more interesting insight than, 'The older I get, the more I know that I don't know anyone.'
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
As good as Nolte is, the relatively unknown Morgan matches him scene for scene.
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Crust
Off the Black is a modest, bittersweet character study that hits its mark.
New York Times
Stephen Holden
Nick Nolte dives beneath the blubber to bare the weary soul of an automobile junkyard operator pushing 60 who also umpires high-school baseball games.
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Playing a cantankerous, beer-swigging human wreck of a man for the umpteenth time, Nolte is very good but very familiar.
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
The movie is so restrained, and holds back so much on conventional plot and characterization, that its emotional impact is severely blunted.
Newsday
Gene Seymour
Writer-director James Ponsoldt filters old-shoe comfort and easy-does-it drollery through what could have been a downbeat inquiry into the ways men of all ages avoid saying what they really feel.
Entertainment Weekly
Gregory Kirschling
We haven't heard much from Nick Nolte since he took that wild 2002 Hawaiian-shirt mug shot. Off the Black proves he's still a great leading actor.
Slant Magazine
Nick Schager
Nick Nolte's grizzled, alcoholic recluse mentors Trevor Morgan's unhappy teen in Off the Black, a heartwarming tale that's been told a thousand times before, and with considerably more spark.
Village Voice
Rob Nelson
A disarmingly droll and insightful indie.
Variety
Justin Chang
Anchored by a terrific performance from Nick Nolte as a grizzled umpire who gets an unexpected second chance at fatherhood, this easygoing comedy-drama plays out slowly but assuredly.
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