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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
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Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
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54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
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Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
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Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
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Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Around the Bend
Warner Independent Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for language
Starring
Michael Caine,
Christopher Walken,
Josh Lucas,
Glenne Headly,
Jonah Bobo,
David Eigenberg,
Robert Douglas,
and
Carlos A. Cabarcas
Around the Bend tells the story of four generations of men who are suddenly brought together by the chance to uncover the truth about their family's past. The journey will take them out on the road to a world full of surprises -- some comic, some dramatic and all of them personal. (Warner Independent Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jordan Roberts
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jordan Roberts
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 22, 2005
Video: February 22, 2005
Theatrical: October 8, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
85 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Best Actor (Walken) and Special Grand Prize of the Jury, 2004 Montréal World Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
A bittersweet relationship drama with enough honest emotion and gentle humor to move even the steeliest heart.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Mr. Walken performs with a marvelously minimalist precision.
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Richard James Havis
Slick, well-packaged emotional drama.

70
LA Weekly
Ron Stringer
The final revelation which, however anticipated, however contrived, stings just enough to make it feel like life.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A fine, familial elixir to remedy despair and soften hardened hearts, Around the Bend is likely just the first of many feathers in Roberts shiny new directorial cap.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Who would have guessed that, among all the cutesy curves in Around the Bend, the guy walking the straightest line is Christopher Walken?

63
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie, unfortunately, doesn't really work; it's one of those films where the characters always seem to be Behaving, as if ordinary life has to be jacked up into eccentricity.

60
Chicago Reader
Staff (Not credited)
Roberts never surmounts the cracker-barrel contrivance of the plot, but his low-key humor, clear affection for the characters, and strong cast are enough to put this gentle drama across.

60
Empire
David Hughes
One of those films that seems like it was made mainly for film festivals - and it has the awards to show for it.

60
Variety
Eddie Cockrell
Self-consciously mannered yet fitfully interesting, Around the Bend gets the most mileage it can from the eccentric, low-key charisma of Christopher Walken.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The story is spotty, but the acting is fine, especially when Walken is around.

50
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Gentlemen, it's a male chick flick - "The Dirty Secrets of the Ya-Ya Brotherhood."

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
An awkward amalgam of road movie, buddy comedy and melodramatic conventions, first-time writer-director Jordan Roberts' male weepie ricochets between affecting scenes and insufferably maudlin ones.

50
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Might as well have been titled "That Kentucky Fried Chicken Movie." That's how it will be referred to, anyway, though some people may insert an adjective such as "convoluted," "disappointing," or "anti-climactic" before the name of the fast-food franchise.

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tasha Robinson
There are good ideas in Around The Bend, but they're presented in outline form, as the bare, dry bones of what could have been a living body.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Around the Bend doesn't inspire one to care.

50
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
If nothing else, director/screenwriter Jordan Roberts knows good music. If only we could say the same about his script.

50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Writer/director Jordan Roberts aims for heartwarming drama and settles for tepid entertainment.

50
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The result is a curious hash: warmly funny in the comic scenes and shamelessly sentimental during the sad bits, of which there are many.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
For the silent masses who cherish those "Hallmark Hall of Fame" specials, but wish they had just a little more profanity, the release of Around the Bend is occasion to rejoice.

50
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
Plays like a certain brand of indie film I hadn't seen in a while: the Self-Consciously Odd Journey of Self-Discovery Through the American Southwest, in which people learn Important Life Lessons while encountering "colorful" characters in small-town diners and motels amid the tumbleweeds.

50
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
What makes the film work better than its nearly unbearable cuteness suggests is the casting of Christopher Walken as the son; the movie has yet to be invented that Walken can't improve simply by showing up.

42
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
It's the showy story, script, and even staging that wear a fella out in this relentlessly precious feature debut by writer-director Jordan Roberts.

40
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
A heavily padded, thinly conceived, well-meaning movie.

40
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
The movie comes off as willfully eccentric when it should have been charmingly touching.

38
Chicago Tribune
Allison Benedikt
A well-intentioned, ill-conceived blip of a movie that just happens to star two of the most esteemed actors of our time--Michael Caine and Christopher Walken.

38
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
The longest 85-minute road trip you could imagine.

38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
As a vegetarian, I'm grateful that Around the Bend -- an extended commercial for KFC passing itself off as a heartwarming family drama -- is a loser.

30
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
So programmatic, so dogged in hitting the right steps at the right time that it completely lacks spontaneity.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
First-time filmmaker Jordan Roberts worked on this project for years, but merely ended up with dreary cliche.

30
Village Voice
Joshua Land
Veers deep into male-weepie territory.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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