The transplant didn't take in Barfly, and it works no better here in Factotum. In each case, the baying of the boozehounds just seems repetitious and banal -- the noise endures but the joy is gone. full review

Quite dull, truth be told. As good as Dillon and Taylor are in their roles, making us side with them even as we despise them, there's not a whole lot that happens in a life ruled by the bottle, the butt and the shag. full review

This is one of the best movies of the year, and one of the two or three best performances. full review

Factotum is right up there with Barfly as a distillation of Bukowskian badinage, despite the current film's sketchier provenance. full review

Dillon is better now that he's settled into sturdy middle age. He makes more sense; I never got him as a Tiger Beat centerfold. full review

I just didn't think the comic touches were very subtle and very funny and the other stuff we've just seen before. full review

Dillon and director Hamer manage to give us a real Bukowski by avoiding the overly dramatic histrionics that sometimes marred Barbet Schroeder's similarly themed 1987 booze-drama, Barfly with Mickey Rourke.

An aimless movie about an aimless man is still an aimless movie. full review

One of the few films that gets to the heart of what a writer does and how he does it, without the clichés of pages being torn from the typewriter, crumpled and tossed on the floor. full review

While not really a complete film, Factotum functions as an atmospheric, diverting character study. full review

This adaptation captures the late writer's unkempt soul.

At times, the picture recalls Jim Jarmusch at his very best, with all the self-indulgent parts cut out. full review

Wins you over even as it dares you to keep watching. full review

It's a deadpan comedy that looks upon the world with an honesty and impassiveness worthy of its protagonist -- and of the author standing behind him. full review

Hamer illuminates Bukowski's dark, sleazy little corner. He makes us feel with Hank and, surprisingly, at times, feel for him. full review

In cherry-picking the more filmable episodes from the novel, Hamer and Stark have constructed a sort of poor man's Barfly, with an emphasis on drunken mischief. full review

Hamer has created a tidy film about a fabulously messy man. full review

The beautiful joke of Factotum is that Dillon is nobility itself.

While the acting is good, the narrative is flat and repetitious. The director doesn't connect the scenes into a meaningful character study. full review

A seamy and funny adaptation of Charles Bukowski's 1975 novel Factotum.