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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.

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Focus
Directed by	Neal Slavin
Screenplay by	Kendrew Lascelles
Based on	Focus by Arthur Miller
Produced by	Robert A. Miller Michael R. Bloomberg
Starring	William H. Macy Laura Dern David Paymer Meat Loaf
Cinematography	Juan Ruiz Anchía
Edited by	Tariq Anwar David B. Cohn
Music by	Mark Adler
Production company	Focus Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Classics
Release date	September 9, 2001 (2001-09-09)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$645,418[1]

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."[2] On Metacritic the film has a score of 53% based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]

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."[4][5][6]

See also

• History of antisemitism in the United States § 1930s

References

External links

• Focus at IMDb

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