David Mamet's script was heavily criticized as sexist. He defended himself against this allegation in (Guardian supplement) (UK) 8 April 2004, pg. 8-9, "'Why can't I show a woman telling lies?'"

When Carol leaves John's office after their second meeting, shouting "Help!", the shadow of the camera covers the door.

There is a version of the movie circulating in Australia, in a series of videos along with other David Mamet films including "A Life in the Theater". This particular copy of the film is timecoded. In that version, after Carol tells John not to call his wife "baby," (thus sending him into a torrent of rage), and he slaps her arm and grabs her, screaming a sexual expletive and raising a chair above her head, the door to the hallway swings open and a number of people stand in the hallway, observing the fight and thus hopelessly damning John. In the version now appearing on The Sundance Channel (10/05), the expletive is unchanged but he never lifts the chair and the door never opens; aside from a final exterior shot of the school, the film ends with Carol (Eisenstadt) having collapsed on the floor of John's office, and John sitting in his chair, his head buried in his hands.

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The War/Double Dragon/Mary Shelley's Frankenstein/Oleanna/Drop Squad (1994)