The Deal clearly aims at being a roman-a-clef. Instead it's more of a roman-a-clumsy.
– Stephen Whitty,
Newark Star-Ledger,
17 Jun 2005
rotten:
Seldom entertaining.
– Wesley Morris,
Boston Globe,
17 Jun 2005
rotten:
Far from the real deal when it comes to even a modicum of plausibility on a politically hot topic.
– Ruthe Stein,
San Francisco Chronicle,
17 Jun 2005
rotten:
Epstein and Kahn might have been better off leaving the assassinations, kidnappings and cliffhangers to Grisham and made a simpler, more realistic movie about a desperate young banker juggling deals and trying to stay afloat.
– Michael Wilmington,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Jun 2005
rotten:
There's too much of that inside-baseball talk, and too many ridiculous plot turns that require intelligent people to make really stupid decisions, just so the suspense can be sustained.