Tour de force performance from Patrick Stewart. Unfortunately his role is not really captivating. The young man is more interesting. Ultimately as a film it falls short. Maybe it worked on stage. In some aspects I found Toby's character repulsive.

Tobi (Patrick Stewart) is a dance professor at Julliard. Today he's very nervous, however, as he's expecting guests. Who they are, you don't know but he wants everything to be just right and he fusses over the details. Once the couple arrive, you learn that the woman is supposedly working on a dissertation about dance and the husband is just along for the ride. This portion at Tobi's favorite restaurant is VERY hard to take. Tobi is so superficial and flamboyant that he comes off as fake and annoying. I really was tempted to turn off the film...it was THAT bad.Soon the scene changes to Tobi's apartment. While the lady (Carla Gugino) asks Tobi a lot of questions about dance, her husband (Matthew Lillard) begins asking questions--which is strange because he's just supposed to be along for the ride. What's stranger is that his questions are very invasive and he begins asking Tobi about his sex life. What is this all about....as it soon becomes obvious that there is no dissertation and the couple have ulterior motives. What? See the film.I hated the first 20 minutes or so of the film and thought the writing and Stewart were just awful. But I stuck with it...and I am glad I did because through the course of the film, the bravado, the fakeness and the veneer begin to wear away and the movie becomes an interesting character study. In fact, it becomes a wonderful study of all three--and all three are marvelous. It also becomes quieter...more contemplative...and very emotionally charged--so much so that you might just want to have a few Kleenex handy. Rarely has a movie surprised me like this one did...and I am certainly glad I saw it. If you, too, would like to see it, the film is out this week on Netflix.By the way, this is not a film for kids. There is a lot of talk about sexuality and it would probably bore younger viewers as well. But for someone who wants to see marvelous acting you cannot do much better than this.

This is definitely a surprising film. If one knows what's going on beneath the surface, you wouldn't hesitate to try to guess how exactly the plot will turn out. But actually, the screenplay is quite detailed and it plays with its own conventions. Never does the film (aside from the ending) stray into exactly what you would expect. I don't think it's a flawless film, but it's definitely one that stands out in terms of never having seen this sort of movie plot play out like this, exactly. Stewart is absolutely fantastic. I could have definitely seen some awards traction had the film come out just at the end of 2014. Carla Gugino is also really strong actually, and proof that she was always a talent that deserved to make it bigger. Matthew Lillard has some impressive scenes, but he's also not nearly as strong throughout the whole film. Not a bad performance but i think that more could have been done with a better actor. Overall, really well done

Wow. I cannot believe a man of Patrick Stewart's talent and experience could present a character as boring, ugly, and bizarrely unbelievable at this stage of his career. Even if his director begged him to perform this poorly I cannot believe he would do so. I am sorry. But, do not waste even five minutes on this movie.Matthew Lilliard, as the potential son, created a character that was so unreal that no one should be asked to suspend disbelief. His character is not a cop. There is a sense of un-realness to this performance. There is no believable reason for his character to be such a bore. This could be a career ending performance. I honestly cannot believe anyone put money forward to produce this, one of the worst movies I have seen in years.