''Pretenders'' is a 2018 American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

from a screenplay by Josh Boone. It stars Jack Kilmer,

Jane Levy Jane Colburn Levy ( ; born ) is an American actress. After attending the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, she debuted as the original Mandy Milkovich on the Showtime comedy-drama '' Shameless'' (2011). Levy left ''Shameless'' following its fir ...

Shameik Moore Shameik Alti Moore (born May 4, 1995) is an American actor and musician. He made his lead acting debut in '' Dope'' (2015), and is best known for voicing Miles Morales / Spider-Man in the animated film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2 ...

Juno Temple Juno Temple (born 21 July 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the comedy series ''Ted Lasso'' (2020–2023) and in the fifth season of the crime drama series '' Fargo'' (2023–2024). She earned Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...

, Brian Cox,

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The Right Stuff'' (1983), '' The Big Easy'' (1986), '' Innerspace'' (1987), '' Great Balls of Fire!'' (1989), ' ...

and Franco. It had its world premiere at the

Torino Film Festival The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was f ...

on November 24, 2018. It was released on September 27, 2019, by

Cleopatra Entertainment Cleopatra Entertainment is the film division Los Angeles–based label Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label that has the sub-labels Hypnotic Records, Goldenlane, Stardust, Purple Pyramid, Deadl ...

Cast

* Jack Kilmer as Terry *

as Catherine *

as Phil *

as Victoria * Brian Cox as Henry *

as Joe *

as Maxwell *

Mustafa Shakir Mustafa Shakir (born August 21, 1976) is an American actor known for his portrayal as Bushmaster in '' Marvel's Luke Cage'', Big Mike in ''The Deuce'' and Jet Black in ''Cowboy Bebop'' (2021). Biography and career Shakir was born in North Ca ...

as Mr. Stanish * Danielle Burgess as Madeline * Jacqueline Honulik as Kim *

Antoni Porowski Antoni Janusz Porowski (born March 14, 1984) is a Canadian television personality, cook, actor, model, and author. He is the food and wine expert on the Netflix series '' Queer Eye'' (2018–present). Early life Porowski was born in Montreal, Qu ...

as Antoni * Tyler Alvarez as Doug

Production

In November 2016, it was announced

would direct the film, from a screenplay by Josh Boone, with Franco, Jack Kilmer,

, Brian Cox and

joining the cast of the film. Vince Jolivette, Jay Davis,

Shaun Sanghani Shaun S. Sanghani (born June 28, 1980) is an American film producer, Film finance, financier and Screenwriter, writer. He is the founder and president of SSS Entertainment and SSS Film Capital. He is best known as the producer of ''The Fallout (f ...

, Jordan Yale Levine, Scott Levenson and Katie Leary served as producers on the film under their

Rabbit Bandini Productions Rabbit Bandini Productions is a film and television production company founded in 2003 by actors/filmmakers James Franco and Vince Jolivette. The name comes from combining the titular hero from John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy with the hero of John ...

, SSS Entertainment and Yale Productions banners, respectively.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on November 24, 2018. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film, which they re-titled ''Pretenders''. The first trailer was released in late August 2019, with a theatrical premier on October 4, 2019 and a VOD release on November 5, 2019, although some theaters began showing the film on September 27, 2019. It was released on DVD on November 12, 2019.

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 20% of 10 reviews are positive, and the average rating is 4.3/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

— which assigns a weighted mean score — the film has a score of 14 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". While

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

's review praised "standout efforts from its three up-and-coming stars", the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

review called it "pretentious nonsense" and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

said it "indulges in a distasteful brand of nostalgia".

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pretenders (2018 film) 2018 films 2018 drama films American drama films Films directed by James Franco Films about actors Films about infidelity Films about photographers Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom Films about prostitution in the United States Films about screenwriters Films set in 1979 Films set in 1983 Films set in 1986 Films set in France Films set in London Films set in New York (state) Films shot in New York (state) HIV/AIDS in American films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language drama films