Bel Ami

What distinguishes Pattinson in the role is the sense he conveys of someone roiling and churning beneath a surface that is almost, but not quite, calm.

A good-looking yet curiously tame adaptation of a saucy classic that showcases Pattinson's ambition if not his full abilities.

A coherent characterization of Robert Pattinson's striving schemer is nowhere to be found in this pedestrian period piece.

He's neither a fun villain or a secret good guy; the movie feels like a senseless venture because, even with his pants down on top of Clotilde or manhandling Virginie, he's the dullest scoundrel around.

"I had no conception of the depths of your emptiness!" a character shrieks in Bel Ami, and her words take on an unintended resonance as addressed to Robert Pattinson in the lead role.

It's just that Pattinson's performance is so enervated that his Georges Duroy comes across as something of a cipher. He's not quite alive, yet also clearly not dead, given the amount of sex he has. He's undead, or at least uninteresting.

Pattinson portrays the monotonous Georges Duroy in two equally dry modes: scowls and smirks.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! It will not be everybodys cup of tea but I love this type of movie! I have read the book and think they did a very solid adaptation. As usual Robert Pattinson has received a lot of undue criticism. He was exactly how I pictured the character in the book. A cad who is completely out of his depth in high society where he craves to be. He did a great job. I hope some day critics will get over their aversion to Twilight and just judge a performance without baggage. Honestly I see no other reason for the harsh reviews here.

Pattinson was actually very good in this movie!! The only acting down fall that I could see was Uma Therman but it was not enough to take from the story.

Good story and nicely shot. I was convinced by all the actors. They could have perhaps explained certain things a bit more but I still enjoyed it as a movie. I would recommend it.

Being uninterested in Pattinson as a vampire, teenage heart-throb, I thought myself unbiased and ready to appreciate his acting skills. Unfortunately, this movie did not reveal any such talent. Pattinson plays Georges Duroy, a penniless ex-NCO, who seduces and manipulates rich women despite a complete lack of wit or endowments. Besides not showing any of the charisma required by the part, Pattinson's rough features add further hindrance. The role would have suited an actor of refined handsomeness, to make the contrast with Georges personality even more striking. What we get instead is Pattinson's boxer nose, coupled with a flat delivery of his lines. It makes it hard to believe that so many women would find him irresistible. The story follows Duroy meeting in a brothel Forestier, a former comrade. For reasons impossible to understand, Forestier invites him to dinner and ends up offering Georges a job. During this dinner Georges meets three women willing to be manipulated like puppets, despite the fact that they all seem smarter than Georges. The first is Clotilde is a rich, dizzy married woman, who just wants to be Georges lover at all costs. For their first sexual encounter, Georges invites her to his squalid abode and Clotilde decides to rent an expensive love nest to continue their relationship. Madeleine is Forestier's wife, played by Thurman. She is an independent, clever woman who ends up marrying Georges, although she has absolutely no reason whatsoever to do so. Their relation is completely inexplicable. Mme Rousset, played by Scott Thomas, is a middle aged married woman who loses her head for the completely charm-free Georges. The seduction scene that involves the two of them is cringe-inducing. Finally, a fourth woman also falls for Georges, making the whole movie a sequel of sexual encounters strangely lacking any passion. Not bad for a boy who would hardly get a second glance, but incredibly tedious as a movie plot