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
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.

Eagle vs. Shark

EMAILPRINTMiramax Films

Eagle vs. Shark reviews
55
7.3 User Score:

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)

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...

80

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 >
75

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 >
75

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 >
75

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 >
75

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 >
75

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 >
75

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 >
70

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 >
70

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 >
67

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The film’s resolution is more implied than complete.

Read Full Review >
63

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 >
63

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 >
60

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

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

Read Full Review >
58

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 >
50

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 >
50

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 >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

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

Read Full Review >
50

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 >
50

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Intermittently charming, sometimes tiresome celebration of quirkiness.

Read Full Review >
50

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 >
42

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

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

Read Full Review >
40

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 >
40

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

More dumb than funny.

Read Full Review >
40

Variety Todd McCarthy

Result is still innocuously mild and inconsequential.

Read Full Review >
30

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.

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 (UPDATED) | Terms of Use