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The Emperor's Club

2002

Michael Hoffman

Kevin Kline, Emile Hirsch, Embeth Davidtz, Rob Morrow ...

6.2

4,429

Drama William Hundert, St. Benedict's assistant headmaster, practices what he teaches. Striving to inspire his students to live rightly, he's the kind of impassioned Classics professor who believes the history of the Greeks and Romans is more than just a lesson about the past. He also believes the role of a teacher is not only to educate the pupil but to mold his character. But in the fall of 1976, Hundert finds his cloistered world of ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Mick LaSalle SFGATE	"The picture uses a couple of compelling incidents to create what emerges as a substantial examination of character, morality and destiny."	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Director Michael Hoffman sprays on the tears like a toxic mist. Avoid like the plague (…) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"Kevin Kline's performance shows a deep understanding of the character, who is, after all, better than most teachers, and most men. We care for him, not because he is perfect, but because he regrets so sincerely that he is not."	POS
United States	Chuck Rudolph Slant	"A middling exercise in the sub-genre of inspirational educator movies. By film’s end, Hundert may be remembered by his pupils but the movie will be quickly forgotten (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Robert Koehler Variety	"As helmer Hoffman virtually plods his way through the film, he can’t summon enough dramatic energy to raise the final revelations and confrontations above the level of simple platitudes"	NEG
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"Life, the movie concludes, is not as simple as most movies like it would have you believe, but it doesn't manage to make the characters complex enough to make this an insight rather than an axiom"	NEU

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