Oddly, the funniest performer here is Gene Hackman, playing an aggressively straight, family-values-spouting politician.

NEWYORKER: The Birdcage

And that is also true of Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums and Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore.

WSJ: The World of Filmmaker Wes Anderson

In all fairness, no one except Tommy Lee Jones or Gene Hackman can say that stuff and sound ... human.

CNN: Review: 'Haywire' is a rush

John Travolta, Gene Hackman and George Clooney lined up to play his characters because they got all the great lines.

CNN: Grit on wry: A dinner with Elmore and Peter Leonard

Also with Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Matt Damon.

NEWYORKER: Geronimo: An American Legend

Or of President Gene Hackman in Absolute Power, who has sex so rough with the wife of a major contributor that she wounds him with a letter opener.

CNN: All The Presidents' Movies

Its Gene Hackman look-alike coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari , in the finest tradition of winning coaches, is already planning to cash in with a book on tactics and leadership.

FORBES: Magazine Article

For the better part of two hours, the audience joins Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman as they wrestle (literally) with whether it is too late or too soon to unleash their sub's deadly salvo.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Holly Hunter, Gary Busey, Ed Harris, David Strathairn, and Wilford Brimley do themselves proud, and Gene Hackman is in a class by himself, brewing unprecedented mixtures of moral dry rot, fellow feeling, and animal vitality.

NEWYORKER: The Firm

In that sense "Headhunters" is a digital update of Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 classic "The Conversation, " with Roger's head what's on it, rather than what's in it as an analog to the apartment that Gene Hackman's surveillance expert tears apart in a frantic attempt to find a bug.

WSJ: Headhunters | Bernie | Sounds of My Voice | The Five-Year Engagement | Surprising Headhunters Hits Thriller Heights | Film Reviews by Joe Morgenstern