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Eagle vs. Shark
Miramax Films


7.2

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language, some sexuality, and brief animated violence

Starring Jemaine Clement, Taika Cohen, David Fane, Craig Hall, Morag Hills, Cohen Holloway, Loren Horsley, and Rachel House

From New Zealand comes a wickedly offbeat love story - a funny, fractured romance between two total misfits, woven into an all-consuming quest for revenge, and shot through with the strange, sweet hilarity of the human condition. (Miramax Films)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Taika Waititi
DIRECTED BY:	Taika Waititi
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 8, 2008 Theatrical: June 15, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	88 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	New Zealand

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema - Dramatic), 2007 Sundance 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...

Empire Olly Richards

So quirky that it’s almost in danger of collapsing under the weight of its own antic whimsy at times, but a comic delight destined for cult adoration.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A Kiwi nerd love story and loopy portrait of Down Under underachievers, Eagle vs. Shark offers a deadpan take on family, friendship, obsession and self-delusion.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

What rescues Eagle vs. Shark is its focus on Lily. Although Horsley overdoes the winsomeness, she is genuinely appealing. Love erases Lily's geekiness and in its place stands an attractive young woman.

USA Today Scott Bowles

Unlike so many big-studio films that pass off models in horn-rimmed glasses as nerds, this little New Zealand gem embraces the inner geek and, just as effectively, celebrates misfit love.

TV Guide Ken Fox

With an often very funny story line that eventually touches on parental disappointment and suicide, it's clear that, his debt to Hess and Wes Anderson notwithstanding, Waititi has learned a thing or two from fellow antipodean Jane Campion as well.

Premiere Stephen Saito

The film is punctuated by a literal knock down, drag out affair that has all the perverse curiosity of watching a "late career" Mike Tyson bout. But by the end, the real knockout is the discovery of this comic gem.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Never before have I been so emotionally involved with an apple core, or seen salvation in a flip-flop. Taika Waititi, you had me at nunchuks.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie isn't funny in any big way so much as recognizable in its patterns of dysfunction, delusion and futility. But you believe in it, because you believe in the small but decent lives of its characters, a rare experience for a hot weekend in June.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This debut feature, occasionally arch but consistently affecting, shares the deadpan esthetic of "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Ghost World."

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The film’s resolution is more implied than complete.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Watching Eagle vs Shark is like sitting next to a terminally awkward first date at a restaurant. You cringe and feel protective toward the poor, sweet dweebs at the same time.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Eagle vs. Shark feels like a low-budget, foreign cousin to Napolean Dynamite, less polished and sly. But it's definitely in the same family, lulling us into friendly acceptance with its persuasively silly rhythm and deceptively big heart.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It's a perfectly cheerful time at the movies, without any hint of drama or surprise.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Despite Clement's best efforts to make Jarrod a deadpan oddball nerd, it becomes apparent early on that excessive teenage eccentricity and terminal self-delusion isn't quite as cute in the adult male and absent father.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

This is the kind of movie in which Jarrod's nemesis turns out to be paraplegic, while his dad lives in a wheelchair despite the fact that he can walk just fine. Ha.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Might feel like a colorful little train-wreck drama, but given the recent popularity of such films, it comes across more like a nerdcore clip show, a sort of straight-faced "Epic Movie" for fans of discomfort comedy.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

In the end, Eagle vs. Shark represents a convincing triumph for Dumb.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

There are occasional nice moments scattered throughout, but this is mostly a big, uncomfortable cartoon focused on the twisted attraction between two caricatures.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Intermittently charming, sometimes tiresome celebration of quirkiness.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

As it turns out, spending a couple of hours with emotionally arrested, socially moronic characters is not a whole lot more fun than spending a couple of hours with actual emotionally arrested, socially moronic people.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It's a tale that reduces angst, not to mention love, to a generational tic.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie's idea of funny is giving the two lovers identical moles bordering their upper lips.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

More dumb than funny.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Result is still innocuously mild and inconsequential.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

You can't see the forest for the twee in writer-director Taika Waititi's thicket of cutesy conceits, from the stunted supporting characters to the precious animated interludes.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ben gave it a9:
It's not the laughs that get you, but the package in general. It's a sweet tale that refuses to take itself to seriously.

Jake K. gave it a10:
Jemaine, from Flight of the Conchords, was awesome in this movie. Really quirky.. much better than Napoleon Dynamite.

Robert gave it a10:
I really enjoyed this film. The direction, screen play, acting, and music were all wonderful and I laughed continually. As the film progresses, the character study of Jarrod becomes deeper and, while you still laugh at his ridiculous pretensions, you begin to pity him as well.

Mark S. gave it an8:
I was initially apprehensive about seeing this film due to the mixed ratings, but a 5-star review from Film Threat (oddly not included on Metacritic which usually includes them) helped turn me around and give it a chance. I found it to be a cute, fun movie that is funny, but not gut-bustingly so. The romance is nice and cute, but never chick-flick illogical. It's simply a nice tale of a couple of amusingly odd and awkward people who fall in love. Comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite make sense, but are not entirely appropriate. It's more like an entire world of people who have the same sort of unrealistic awkwardness of Napoleon, but without any real people to play them off of. I, and everyone I was with, enjoyed it thoroughly.

Evan P. gave it a1:
This was an average movie with a well below average cast.

Blanco A. gave it an8:
Laren Horsley, as the Dangerous Person, is a really pleasant surprise. It's definitely reminiscent of the charms of Napoleon Dynamite, but it also has hints of Muriel's Wedding - the whole New Zealand, Pacific Island weirdness. It's a "little" movie, but worth seeing by all means.

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Eagle vs. Shark Miramax Films

Eagle vs. Shark
Miramax Films