An Actor Prepares (film)

Matt Fagerholm of RogerEbert.com reviewed the film negatively, opining that the film's humor felt particularly off-putting in the age of MeToo.^[5] Though he wrote Irons "certainly appears to be relishing his role as an unapologetically bad-mannered actor, savoring each profane syllable of his dialogue like a fine wine", he noted "the script’s lethal miscalculation is the mean-spiritedness of its humor."^[5] Fagerholm added, "If Adam—and the film itself—truly cared about issues such as gender representation, then the character would’ve challenged his father’s sexist beliefs, engaging in provocative debates as they journey across the country on their road trip. Instead, the film wants us to chortle at Atticus doing lewd and outrageous things that we’ve seen in countless other pictures."^[5]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter voiced similar thoughts, writing "Although his performance is undeniably entertaining at times, Irons is ultimately defeated by his character’s cliched aspects which include revealing himself to be a (no spoiler alert) loving and proud father after all. Huston’s natural charisma is given little chance to shine, with Adam being mainly reactive to his father’s outrageousness."^[6]

• An Actor Prepares at IMDb 
• An Actor Prepares at Rotten Tomatoes