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45
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71
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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86
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71
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44
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75
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53
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55
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65
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xx
White on Rice
59
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74
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43
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69
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Eagle vs. Shark
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 16 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Foreign
Written by: Taika Waititi
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 15, 2007
DVD: January 8, 2008
Running Time: 88 minutes, Color
Origin: New Zealand
Summary
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database 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...
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
This debut feature, occasionally arch but consistently affecting, shares the deadpan esthetic of "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Ghost World."
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
The film’s resolution is more implied than complete.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It's a perfectly cheerful time at the movies, without any hint of drama or surprise.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
In the end, Eagle vs. Shark represents a convincing triumph for Dumb.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Intermittently charming, sometimes tiresome celebration of quirkiness.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's a tale that reduces angst, not to mention love, to a generational tic.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The movie's idea of funny is giving the two lovers identical moles bordering their upper lips.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 16 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.
