Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
64 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Breakfast on Pluto

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Breakfast on Pluto reviews
59
8.3 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Drama  |  Foreign

Written by: Neil Jordan
Pat McCabe (novel)

Directed by: Neil Jordan

Release Date:
Theatrical: November 16, 2005
DVD: April 18, 2006

Running Time: 135 minutes, Color

Origin: Ireland / UK

Summary

RATING: R for sexuality, language, some violence and drug use

Starring Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Gavin Friday, Laurence Kinlan, Ruth McCabe, and Ruth Negga

Director Neil Jordan weaves a wonderfully surreal and magical tale to bring us this funny, moving and poignant rites of passage account of a young man enduring the trials and tribulations he faces with a smile and unwavering faith in the inherent goodness in us all. (Sony Pictures Classics)

What The Critics Said

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...

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

Jordan and McCabe's real triumph here, however, is the tenderness with which they imbues "Kitten," and the astonishing grace with which the extraordinary Murphy pulls it off.

Read Full Review >
100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Playful, poetic, shocking, saddening, and ultimately gratifyingly and honestly big-hearted.

Read Full Review >
91

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

[Murphy] makes a thrillingly flesh-and-blood creature of Kitten, with her yearning, her droll, self-deprecating wit, her breathless romanticism and her puckish vibrancy. It's easily the most fun bit of screen acting this year, and as rich and nuanced as the lead in any drama.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is like a Dickens novel in which the hero moves through the underskirts of society, encountering one colorful character after another.

Read Full Review >
80

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

It is the central performance that holds us. Cillian Murphy glows.

Read Full Review >
80

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

For Jordan, this is a return to top form.

Read Full Review >
80

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Cillian Murphy gives a tour de force performance.

Read Full Review >
80

Newsweek David Ansen

Jordan is always best on his native Irish turf, and he's in grand mischievous form in this picaresque fable.

Read Full Review >
80

Film Threat Eric Campos

If you like your boys pretty and your stories incredible, this movie is for you.

Read Full Review >
75

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

In substance and style, the movie is more than a few tears short of Jordan's "The Crying Game." But Murphy is an actor to watch. Even in heels.

Read Full Review >
75

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Cillian Murphy plays a hyper-feminine transvestite who spends much of the movie traipsing about an increasingly violent landscape in search of his long lost mother. His whirligig encounters, political and sexual, rarely soar.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Thanks to Jordan's bravura storytelling, Breakfast on Pluto is one of very few movies this year truly worth remembering.

Read Full Review >
75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Jordan unites his favorite actors -- Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart and Brendan Gleeson -- with the swoony presence of the talented 29-year-old Cillian Murphy.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Known for his visual images, Jordan outdoes himself in "Breakfast,'' a feast for the eyes.

Read Full Review >
75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Jordan remains faithful to the looney sensibility of a hero, who is hard to take, but in his refusal to acquiesce to the social humdrum, is like a saint, or at least an artist.

Read Full Review >
70

The New York Times Stephen Holden

In a year overcrowded with wonderful performances by lead actors, Mr. Murphy's immensely appealing turn ranks among the strongest.

Read Full Review >
67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A charming, winsome slice of Seventies pop kitsch reconceived as a kind of Knight-errant quest for that holiest of all grails, dear old mom.

Read Full Review >
67

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

At over two hours, Breakfast on Pluto is too much of a merely pretty and pretty good thing.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Ambles along nicely, but feels as if it's never going to end.

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

However great Murphy is in this film, even greater is Liam Neeson as Father Bernard.

Read Full Review >
60

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Although "Pluto" has a rollicky, endearing air, it's cooler than Jordan's other films.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Anna Smith

This has charm and glamour but little profundity.

Read Full Review >
60

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Though he (Jordan) directs with admirable skill, his usual touches don't drive the film--which occasionally threatens to lose its shape.

Read Full Review >
60

Slate David Edelstein

A more down-to-earth actor would sentimentalize Breakfast on Pluto and make for an awkward fit with its peculiar mix of tones. Murphy's strangeness--his chill estrangement--makes his campy "Kitten" persona more poignant.

Read Full Review >
50

USA Today Claudia Puig

Murphy's breathy, high voice as Kitten feels forced, but not nearly as much as the film's efforts to be both whimsical and weighty.

Read Full Review >
50

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

In the end, his (Patrick) disaffection make him a singularly uninvolving character, and his disengagement makes him seem alternately shallow, selfish and perverse.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Cross-dressing and the Irish Troubles don't mix well in Neil Jordan's cloying, fanciful Breakfast on Pluto.

Read Full Review >
50

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Jordan is trying for a surrealist romp, and it's as coy and callow as you'd expect from a movie with a lead character nicknamed Kitten.

Read Full Review >
50

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Tedious portrait of a troubled Rolling Stone.

Read Full Review >
50

Variety Todd McCarthy

Despite numerous surface pleasures, including a beguiling pop soundtrack and presence of rising star Cillian Murphy in the lead role, dramatic shortcomings spell a mixed overall reception.

Read Full Review >
50

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Breakfast on Pluto, like its cross-dressing heroine, is appealing yet irritating, fun company at times but just as often a bore, occasionally quite touching yet frequently fey and self-indulgent.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Some road pictures take you somewhere. Breakfast on Pluto, from its archly poetic title on down, promises a lulu. Yes, well. Promises, promises.

Read Full Review >
42

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Jordan lets slip virtually every rudiment of drama. He never deigns to develop his characters, he coats the movie in a wet blanket of whimsy, and he lets pop songs do his work for him more lavishly than Cameron Crowe did in "Elizabethtown."

Read Full Review >
25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Despite the movie's bouncy ebullience (courtesy of a terrific period soundtrack) and dashes of fantasy, the film quickly becomes an endurance test.

Read Full Review >
20

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Breakfast on Pluto, with an impressive cast that includes Liam Neeson and Brendan Gleeson, deploys its whimsy in many ways, all of them cloying.

10

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

May be Jordan's wildest mis-shot yet, so dense with dying fizzle and limp ideas that I began to wonder if Jordan has an evil twin, or if there are in fact several Neil Jordans, among them at least one literate stylist and one humor-handicapped village idiot.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Drew F. gave it a9:
Tremendous lead performance from Murphy. Too bad it was such a tough year (with so many quality lead actor performances), cause this really was worthy of Oscar consideration. The movie itself is at times funny, touching, heart wrenching, and ultimately uplifting. Loved every moment of it, including the absolute funniest scene of any film that I saw last year (Kitten takes on the troops).

Mart gave it a4:
Are you having a laugh Neil Jordan?This was painful to watch from start to finish, even though I really tried to like it.Being Irish, I thought I'd see something the American reviewers missed.I didn't.Cillian Murphy's character is nothing but annoying and (as the L.A. Times says) "shallow,selfish and perverse."I insisted my girlfriend go watch it with me; she hasn't looked at me the same since.

Richard gave it an8:
A true fairy tale, in every sense. Great acting, great music, 1001 crazy nights & days. Bombs & blarney; slight, but touching. Love the robins, love Cillian &, most of all, love St. Kitten-not a mean bone in her body.

Ben K. gave it a5:
A tedious combination of Candide and Forrest Gump featuring glam singers who run guns for the IRA, fornicating priests, and gay magicians. It's not as interesting as it sounds. Of course the movie is set during the 70's when this sort of thing was normal but it doesn't really have anything to say about it.

Billy S. gave it an8:
"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart" And you thought the world was too cold for another Anne Frank, well, in Breakfast On Pluto, she's back in the guise of Patrick "Kitten" Braden, whose innocent naivety is her strength in an all to "serious, serious, serious" search to find Mitzi Gayner! A great film from one of the most under-rated directors working today. I'm pretty sure "it moved" when I was watching Cillian Murphy, not that theres anything wrong with that!

Deb K. gave it a7:
Seriously weird, but amazingly well done. Engaging enough to make me want to find out wat happens next to this poor creature. Neeson was nice, but not staggeringly excellent; Murphy is incredible -- incredibly gorgeous, and incredibly femme -- but seriously weird.

John K. gave it a10:
You'll Laugh!!!

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use