# Auto Focus **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005 "2003-01-21T17:26:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005/1 "2003-01-21T17:26:36Z")
What ever happened to the movie Auto Focus? It was supposed to be a big deal. It got great reviews and I don’t ever remember it coming to Chicago. It was full of Oscar buzz and then nothing, what happened? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005/2 "2003-01-21T17:33:52Z")
It definitely came to Chicago: [http://us.imdb.com/ReleaseDates?0298744](http://us.imdb.com/ReleaseDates?0298744) It appears to have had it’s US premiere there. ---
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005/3 "2003-01-21T17:39:33Z")
OK, maybe it was a film festival, but I don’t remember a regular theatrical run in Chicago. It looks like it was released in NY/LA in October but no place else. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005/4 "2003-01-21T17:41:53Z")
It was a good little movie, but not great. I’m afraid it has been overshadowed in the awards season by some other movies ( **The Hours, Adaptation, Chicago** , etc.) which may not have been better, just better timed. Greg Kinnear and William Defoe did great jobs, but the screenplay seemed a little unfocused, and the camerawork was distractingly showy. But it’s worth two hours of your life, so you should check it out when it comes out on DVD. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auto-focus/150005/5 "2003-01-21T18:17:29Z")
[Here](http://65.201.198.5/movies/capsules/22627_AUTO_FOCUS)’s the Chicago Reader’s own review of the film. Yeah, it vanished pretty quickly. I’d ditto the terrific work by Defoe but can’t agree on Kinnear; the film, like his performance, settles on examining the details of Crane’s life in too glib and arch a fashion, never lending any genuine insight into what the man was really about. A shame because I like Paul Schrader.