Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
49
2012
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
70
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
52
Blind Side
47
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
41
G-Force
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
28
Pandorum
58
Pirate Radio
39
Planet 51
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
46
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
39
Adventures of Power
66
Afterschool
73
Amreeka
49
Antichrist
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
71
Big Fan
65
Black Dynamite
76
Bliss
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
76
Broken Embraces
70
Bronson
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
60
Collapse
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
53
Dare
50
Defamation
67
Departures
70
Earth Days
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
88
Fantastic Mr. Fox
31
Fix
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
xx
From Mexico with Love
28
Gentlemen Broncos
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Horse Boy, The
74
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
43
Little Traitor, The
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
46
Love Hurts
84
Maid, The
45
Mammoth
75
Messenger, The
55
Missing Person, The
59
More Than a Game
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
48
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
26
Oh My God
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Red Cliff
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
65
Skin
41
Splinterheads
42
Staten Island
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
58
Storm
82
Sun, The
49
Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73
That Evening Sun
61
Trucker
49
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
45
Uncertainty
67
Visual Acoustics
32
War on Kids
67
Way We Get By, The
65
Wedding Song, The
xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
Woman in Berlin, A
43
Women in Trouble
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): War
Written by:
Shawn Slovo
Louis de Bernières (book)
Directed by: John Madden
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 17, 2001
DVD: February 5, 2002
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: UK / France / USA
Summary
RATING: R for some violence, sexuality and language
Starring Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, John Hurt, Christian Bale, and David Morrissey
A World War II drama about a beautiful Greek villager (Cruz) and the Italian soldier (Cage), part of Mussolini's occupying army, who wins her heart.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Mrs. Brown Proof Shakespeare in Love
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Although it's in the same genre as "The English Patient," it's a vastly better movie --more surprising and original, more rigorous and sympathetic. This film is oddly shaped. It is also heartbreaking and exhilarating.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Frank Lovece
The able cast brings these emotionally complex characters to life, while making Shawn Slovo's occasionally lyrical dialogue sound perfectly natural.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The result is far from perfect, but to its many merits, add timing. You never get a movie with this kind of story in mid-August.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's beautifully shot on Cephallonian locations by superb landscape photographer John Toll.
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A handsomely staged and craftily constructed tearjerker.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Ultimately, it's a surprisingly empty experience.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Never reaches this level of devastating loss despite its tragedies, but it's not the dismal bomb that much of the British press claims.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Grand passion, secrecy, world politics and mortal danger provide a heady mix for this spectacularly beautiful movie. If only the accents were as reliable as the azure of the sea.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Good old-fashioned romantic entertainment, just restrained enough to skirt schmaltz.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
In this film there is a scene where something is said in English pronounced with one accent, and a character asks, ''What did he say?'' and he is told -- in English pronounced with another accent.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
Handsomely weathered John Hurt, as Pelagia's father, gives a performance of such unhackneyed dignity that it provides a moral compass for the action and helps to keep the ricocheting emotional content of the film in balance.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Strives for comprehensive coverage of its theme of forbidden love.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Doesn't so much strike a lot of sour notes as fail to strike the right ones.
Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not credited)
A movie that reduces history, as well as eros, to a postcard.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The only aspect that emerges a winner is the gorgeous Mediterranean scenery.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Corelli is a coffee-table movie: one leafs through the gorgeous vistas and nods through the narrative.
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Partly a travelogue for the Greek islands, partly a simplistic love story, and generally a rehash of the Oscar-winning "Mediterraneo," as if we needed even the first one.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Barry Johnson
No crime against the moviemaker's art, but it is flawed in a way we wouldn't expect from the director of "Shakespeare in Love."
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Ms. Cruz...once again proves her inability to give a bad performance even under the worst of circumstances.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
Neither a badly miscast Cage nor an oddly dispassionate Cruz remotely suggest the ardor of love's passion.
Read Full Review >Variety Derek Elley
Strikes too many false notes on the dramatic side to add up to a satisfying emotional experience.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Based on an interminable 1994 international bestseller by Louis de Bernières that I found impossible to make my way through. The movie duplicates exactly my experience with the book, although I must say I was thankful to be spared serial outbreaks of hearty Greek dancing.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Given the polyglot nature of the cast, with actors from at least five countries taking their best shots at the English language, it's unclear why Cage felt he needed an accent or, stranger still, why it took him a reported seven months to come up with this one.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
The moviemakers have eliminated the finer points of the novel in favor of broad strokes. Very broad strokes.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Every role is miscast. Whose idea was it to have the boyishly British Bale play an illiterate Greek peasant, or the elegant Hurt a gruff-voiced country doctor? Cruz’s run of bad luck in American movies continues.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
We began this dismal movie season with one lethally bad World War II romance -- "Pearl Harbor" -- and now we're wrapping up with another howling dog.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
As the movie methodically plods forward on a screenplay (by Shawn Slovo) consisting entirely of clichés and watered-down exposition, it becomes sadly apparent that its only reliable asset is the gorgeous view.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Rita Kempley
A bungled screen version of Louis de Bernieres' cult novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin was doomed from the moment Nicolas Cage was cast as the "life-devouring," Puccini-loving hero.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
The real problem is not the maudlin script or Madden's travelogue touch. It's Cage as Corelli, a miscasting that turns the normally volatile, edgy performer into little more than a spokesman for the Olive Garden.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
I wish I'd brought a pair of peas to the screening. Then I could have taken in the glorious scenery without the dumb dialogue, which is delivered in a jangle of accents that makes a mockery of ethnicity.
LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
To be fair, it's not solely Cage's fault that his new film, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, is lousy -- director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) deserves most of the heat for this listless dud.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
hatem s. gave it a10:
It's a very nice romantic story with some action and with a very great sound track especially the Pelagia Song.
Alexander gave it a 0:
I thought this was a terrible adaptation of the book, some of the very humerous facts where cut out. Especially what happened to Pelagia and Captain Corelli. I also thought the acting was terrible and I did not think much of Nicolas Cage as Captain Corelli thought I do think he is a good actor but just not in this film because of the accent. I am sorry but that is why I have given this move such a low rating
Mike K. gave it a 9:
While I would have liked better accents, at it wasn't as bad as Enemy at the Gates...Russians with British accents? WTF? I though overall that this was a wonderful movie. Beautiful scenery and the general storyline is it's strengths. I did NOT read the book so I wasn't expecting anything. Acting was decent. I agree that Christian Bale was not the best pick for his role (American Psycho fits him better). Penelope Cruz while beautiful (don't be so jealously hateful Darcy... :) ), I think someone else could have played her part more "realistically". As for Cage, dunno...jury is still out on him in this movie.
Johnny B. gave it a 10:
Well done...beautiful romantic and thrilling. Soundtrack is worthwhile purchase. Never read the novel...but cheers to producer! Novel and movie don't always have to be the same. Bravo!
Christine N. gave it a 1:
Horrible !! WHAT a shame that beautifull and compelling book was so badly represented. The actors chosed to play the main characters did nothing to bring them to life = Cruz was just too THIN to be a believable Greek beauty and her acting was horrendous - as for Cage he spoiled the whole movie with his dreadful accent which kept slipping . The only saving grace was the photography.
Jim D. gave it a 2:
What on earth happened to that wonderful, touching, fascinating novel? Everything special about the book has been leeched out for this terrible film.
Michael R. gave it a 9:
A very beautiful adaption of the book...and as far as accents are concerned, what does one expect in an American movie....Greek? Some of the so-called professional criticisms in this respect are entirely unwarranted.
