Spacey, after a long career of playing acidulous bad guys, gives a performance of surprising gentleness.

NEWYORKER: All That Glitters

Her third marriage, to screenwriter and producer Nick Pileggi, was more successful but less productive of acidulous humor.

WSJ: Nora Ephron, Comedy Screenwriter, Dies at 71

Acidulous and brazenly absurd, the movie was a one-of-a-kind mainstream picture, with startling oddities that people talked about for years.

NEWYORKER: The Manchurian Candidate

Cynical, acidulous, morose, self-pitying, full of banked rage, Patrick would surely be monstrous to live with, but he is vital company in these novels.

NEWYORKER: Noble Savages

As the fictional director Lester Siegel, an acidulous has-been who drives a gold Rolls-Royce, Alan Arkin gets some of the best lines it would take too many asterisks to quote the topper, which becomes a running gag and he turns a smallish part into a thriller's antic soul.

WSJ: 'Argo,' on Fake Film, Is Real Sensation | Film Review by Joe Morgenstern