Stone

Directed by John Curran

(R)

**

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When this dark little drama lets its two stars square off, “it can be riveting,” said Christy Lemire in the Associated Press. Edward Norton and Robert De Niro, both known for “intense performances and decades of challenging roles,” don’t disappoint here as a manipulative convict and the soon-to-retire parole officer who gets to decide when his charge goes free. Sadly, the pair’s striking scenes are surrounded by “implausible melodrama.” A “ridiculous sexual subplot” robs the film of the credibility it so badly needs, said Peter Debruge in Variety. Norton’s hardened killer doesn’t seem masochistic enough to actually coax his girlfriend into seducing De Niro’s bottled-up bureaucrat, and the pencil pusher doesn’t seem stupid enough to fall for the ploy—even though the bait is a sultry Milla Jovovich. But while director John Curran is frustratingly heavy-handed when he tries to probe his characters’ dark places, De Niro’s increasingly desperate behavior feels “frighteningly real,” said David Fear in Time Out New York. His performance here is “easily the best work he’s done in a decade.”