GALLERIST, THE
(director/writer: Cathy Yan; screenwriter: James Pedersen; cinematographer: Federico Cesca; editor: Brian A. Kates; music: Andrew Orkin, Joseph Shirley; cast: Natalie Portman (Polina Polinski), Jenna Ortega (Kiki Gorman), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Stelia Burgess), Sterling K. Brown (Polina’s ex-husband, Tom Mayer), Zach Galifianakis (Dalton Hardberry), Daniel Brühl (Cristos), Charli XCX (Alex), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Marianne), Youssef Kerkour (Doug, security guard); Runtime: 94; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Ash Sarohia, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Jonathan King, Tom McCarthy, Rae Baron, Zola, Elgart Glassman; MRC; 2026)
“A misfire indie arthouse comedy.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A misfire indie arthouse comedy by Chinese director Cathy Yan (“Birds of Prey”/”Dead Fish”) that never recovers enough from its artistic lapses to be a sound film. It tries too hard to make a meaningful and funny satire on the modern art-world, that it turns into a facile, inane and unconvincing satire that’s clumsily made and for the most part not funny. Yan co-writes it with James Pedersen.
The insecure elitist Polina Polinski (Natalie Portman) owns a struggling art gallery in Miami. Things become crazy when she’s so exasperated from her failures, she tries to cover up an accidental death when a lone invited special visitor to her gallery tragically falls.
Polina received a generous divorce settlement from her manipulative wealthy businessman ex-husband Tom Mayer (Sterling K. Brown), which she pumps into a business project to showcase the work of the unknown artist Stella Burgess (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) at the Art Basel’s Miami edition. But his work is poorly received by the obnoxious influencer Dalton Hardberry (Zach Galifianakis) on a lone visit to the gallery, who calls her a dilettante. He slips on a puddle from a leaking broken AC and gets impaled into Stella’s sculpture exhibit. Instead of reporting it to the police, she turns it into a conceptual art exhibit that’s for sale at a big price.
To keep her scam going, Polina works with her neurotic gallery assistant Kiki Gorman (Jenna Ortega), her well-connected Aunt Marianne (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and the ambitious artist, to make money from the hoax while avoiding an arrest. She also plays games with the crass art collector (Daniel Brühl) who is willing to buy the provocative piece to make a name for himself as a connoiseur.
Charli XCX has a cameo as Dalton’s girlfriend Alex, who gets anxious when she can’t find him in the gallery.
Poking fun at the art-world’s pretentiousness and its questionable partnership with the business world, gives Yan an easy target. The lightweight film might be a fun watch for some, but it doesn’t have the gravitas or a rich enough story to pull off its absurd plot. It wastes the talented cast by giving them a lousy script that leaves them with nothing to say about the phony art lovers its poking fun at that matters (maybe it should look more closely at its own pretentious art-house film!).
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 3/12/2026 GRADE: C
dennisschwartzreviews.com