Focus is a 2001 American drama film starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern, David Paymer and Meat Loaf based on a 1945 novel by playwright Arthur Miller.
Plot[]
In the waning months of World War II, a man is mistakenly identified as a Jew by his antisemitic Brooklyn neighbors. Suddenly the victims of religious and ethnic persecution, he finds himself aligned with a local Jewish immigrant in a struggle for dignity and survival.
Cast[]
- William H. Macy as Lawrence 'Larry' Newman
- Laura Dern as Gertrude 'Gert' Hart
- David Paymer as Mr. Finkelstein
- Meat Loaf as Fred (as Meat Loaf Aday)
- Kay Hawtrey as Mrs. Newman
- Michael Copeman as Carlson
- Kenneth Welsh as Father Crighton
- Joseph Ziegler as Mr. Garage
- Arlene Meadows as Mrs. Dewitt
- Peter Oldring as Willy Doyle
- Wendy Lyon as Elsie
- Robert McCarrol as Meeting Hall Man (as Robert Mccarrol)
- Shaun Austin-Olsen as Sullivan
- Kevin Jubinville as Mr. Cole Stevens
- B.J. McQueen as Mel
- Conrad Bergschneider as Tough's Leader
Reception[]
Critical response[]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 81 reviews, with the site's consensus "Though full of good intentions, Focus somehow feels dated, and pounds away its points with a heavy hand." On Metacritic the film has a score of 53% based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "Doesn't reach for reality; it's a deliberate attempt to look and feel like a 1940s social problems picture, right down to the texture of the color photography."