A drama about the slow road of recovery, Andrew Renzi's "The Benefactor" tracks its characters as they forge paths out of the darkness of loss. Starring Dakota Fanning and Richard Gere, the film is a graceful look at sadness, generosity, and the salves created to soothe hurt.

Gere, playing a man of wealth, leads the drama as he uses his fortune to prop up those who may need his gifts. Those gifts become intrusive, but they are benevolent and place Gere's protagonist in a position to vanquish his personal demons.

The story is potent, and Renzi puts the tale together with a handsome control. He allows his characters to bubble forward, driving the film with varied, hard-felt emotions.

Solid and appealing, "The Benefactor" provides sharp, human drama and strong performances. It a small film with hearty impact.

Richard Gere's performance in this drama about an aging philanthropist is tremendously strong, but I was iffy on the rest of the film, because it's all about his relationships, and it doesn't give any of the other people in those relationships much depth. The tragedy of Franny's life is that he lost his best friends (in the opening scene), and he's trying to stay involved with their daughter (played by Dakota Fanning) and her new husband (Theo James), but he can't find an appropriate way to do it. Trouble is that Fanning's character is never a person, and James' character is only about half of one, so it becomes a one-man show that's relatively strong, but still feels like it's missing context, stakes, and direction.

I know I'm supposed to be so sympathetic for poor little Richard Gere in this bait-and-switch advertised gloop, but you can miss me with this boomer bullshit. There's no connections or real relationships here, just being clubbed over the head that rich important men have problems too and we should just stand back and let them continue ruining everything.

The Richard Gere Who Came to Dinner.

I swear you probably haven't seen Richard Gere in a role like this before, as a drunken, pot smoking, morphine-addicted multi-millionaire who weasels his way into the life of his dead best friend's (Dylan Baker) pregnant daughter (Dakota Fanning, underused) and her doctor husband (Theo James). Gere is tremendous but this is a short film story at best. Most of the other characters are under-developed and the film wallows in Lifetime movie-esque melodrama most of the time.

However, Clake Peters is in everything now. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

Also, Poodles :p.

Pretty decent film. The trailer makes it seem a bit more sinister or...thriller-esque. It claims to just be a drama though and that is exactly what it is.

Wasn't anything special but it is a good film for Richard.

I really liked the end credit scene.

Watchable at best. Low expectations met with this one.

Richard Gere really is having a renaissance in later life. His performance here is full of light and shade and helps this seemingly conventional drama go believably into a direction you might not expect. The first act felt an awful lot like an English-language remake of Our Children though.

Richard Gere: I paid off your student loans
Theo James: BUT WHY

DUDE WHO CARES WHY?!? I WISH RICHARD GERE WOULD JUST GIVE ME MONEY FOR EXISTING AS WELL!

The Richard Gere persona that we've come to know is one of effortless and even sly charm, as if he has a secret he wants to share but wants to lure people into asking about it. The Benefactor offers a devious twist on that persona.

See my full review at Mark Reviews Movies.

This had to be one of the most pointless, boring films I've ever seen. I just couldn't grasp why they made DF's character so helpless and bland, they really played into the weak pregnant lady trope.

Franny is the most oddly engaging of character studies; it shows a subject who is annoying, insensitive and overtly manipulative - yet in every morally questionable decision that Franny makes, there's the hint of a person screaming from the inside, out - wishing someone would love and accept him like his dearly departed friend. Money can't buy you happiness, and, as we can learn from Franny, giving it away doesn't make you a better person either.

Zweifelsohne eine der stärksten Darstellungen von Richard Gere, fast schon eine Charakterstudie. 

Leider hat mich die Geschichte emotional nicht so abgeholt, wie ich es mir gewünscht hatte. Liegt vermutlich daran, dass „The Benefactor“ letztlich doch das „herkömmliche“ Hollywood-Drama ist, das zu wenig wagt.

Wäre außerdem erzählerisch geschickter gewesen, die Beweggründe der Hauptfigur nicht so offensichtlich von vornherein zu servieren, sondern das Ganze subtiler zu verpacken.

Glavni akter ove psihološke drame je Franny humanista i osnivač dečije bolnice koji se već godinama bori sa sobom i grižom savesti zbog toga što je slučajno izazvao udes u kome su poginuli njegovi najbolji prijatelji. Kada ga nakon par godina od udesa pozove ćerka njegovih pokojnih prijatelja da joj pomogne da nađe njenom vereniku posao, on će to rado učiniti. I ne samo to, nego će im organizovati venčanje, kupiti im kuću, platiće njihove zajmove. Potpuno će uči u živote što neće biti po volji njenom novopečenom mužu.

Prva polovina filma ostavlja potencijal kako će ovo biti triler o bolesnoj opsesiji jednog čoveka. Međutim već od drugog dela film kreće u jedan potpuno drugi smer i sve ono što smo dotad gledali pada u vodu i kao da prisustvujemo potpuno drugačijem filmu u odnosu na prvu polovinu, što me je iskreno razočaralo. Čak ni fenomenalna gluma Richard Geera i Dakote Fanning na kraju ne uspeva da izvadi prosek.

J’attends encore un punch ou une histoire ...

I know I'm supposed to be so sympathetic for poor little Richard Gere in this bait-and-switch advertised gloop, but you can miss me with this boomer bullshit. There's no connections or real relationships here, just being clubbed over the head that rich important men have problems too and we should just stand back and let them continue ruining everything.

this movie made me cry more than I'd like to admit. also when richard gere saw theo james' face up close and said "wow look at you you're gorgeous 😲" that's a mood

Watchable at best. Low expectations met with this one.

This had to be one of the most pointless, boring films I've ever seen. I just couldn't grasp why they made DF's character so helpless and bland, they really played into the weak pregnant lady trope.

The film is well casted & well acted, however its slow, lifeless, boring, unfocused & A disappointing drama story. (31%)

Not bad.

Total waste of talent.