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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
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Away We Go
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Beaches of Agnes, The
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Big Man Japan
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Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
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Brothers Bloom, The
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Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
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Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
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18
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58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
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38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
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Girlfriend Experience, The
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89
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63
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Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
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New York
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Paris 36
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Rudo y Cursi
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Seraphine
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Sex Positive
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Shall We Kiss?
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Sin Nombre
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Song of Sparrows, The
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U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
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What Goes Up
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Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Formula 51
Screen Gems Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, language, drug content and some sexuality
Starring
Samuel L. Jackson,
Robert Carlyle,
Rhys Ifans,
Emily Mortimer,
Meat Loaf,
Ricky Tomlinson,
and
Nigel Whitmey
Elmo McElroy (Jackson) is an American master chemist who heads to England to set up his last big deal, the introduction of a new designer drug to the European underworld. When he hooks up with a Liverpool local (Carlyle), his plans quickly go awry in this action-packed comedy.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Stel Pavlou
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Ronny Yu
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 4, 2003
Video: February 4, 2003
Theatrical: October 18, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
92 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / Canada / UK |

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...
75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Bloody and bloody funny, and Jackson and Carlyle make the best salt-and-pepper team since Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte knocked heads in ''48 HRS., '' but ultimately the movie can't find a way out of its own dead end.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
It is possible, however improbable, that a "bad" movie can still be highly enjoyable. Formula 51 is such a film.

70
Film Threat
Clint Morris
Sure it’s brainless fun, but Formula 51 is a trip well worth taking.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Ray Conlogue
A formula flick. And the formula is not 51 times more entertaining than usual. Maybe 1.5, at best.

50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Outrageously confident and wearing a kilt through the mayhem, Jackson proves once again that he has few equals in bringing off a broad, over-the-top lead.

50
USA Today
Mike Clark
Anything goes, though director Ronny Yu keeps the idiocy on a fast pace.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A messy fish-out-of-water gangland romp.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The film should have been called ''Lock, Stock and Two Wilting Barrels.''

40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Cocky, vulgar and very noisy picture.

38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's a movie that puts Samuel Jackson in kilts, Robert Carlyle in a red Jaguar, and the audience -- if they have any sense at all -- out in the lobby, looking for another picture.

38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Passed as slowly as if I'd been sitting naked on an igloo, Formula 51 sank from quirky to jerky to utter turkey.

38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
It has graceful layers and folds and a nice swing to it, and Jackson moves superbly in it. Unfortunately, I'm talking about the kilt, not the movie.

30
Salon.com
Jeff Stark
If explosive defecation is your idea of a laff riot, this picture -- and the Headrillaz soundtrack, by extension -- should be perfect fun.

30
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Too often, Formula 51 fails to differentiate between gleeful excess and white noise.

30
Village Voice
Justine Elias
Emily Mortimer and Robert Carlyle generate heat as criminal lovers, but most of the cast just engages in embarrassing scenery-gnawing.

25
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A fourth-rate "Pulp Fiction" with accents you can't understand.

25
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Only Emily Mortimer maintains a measure of dignity, playing the slinky assassin named Dakota. Whether her restraint was by her design or the filmmakers', she'll come to appreciate that she all but disappears amid the caterwauling and purging of a story that should have died in Liverpool.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
It isn't simple bad taste that Formula 51 deals in, but a total vacuum of feeling.

25
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Desperately unfunny and unexciting.

25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Feels like it's been pasted together from 51 other movies -- none of them good.

20
Variety
Derek Elley
There's an appalling amount of talent at waste up on the screen, starting with Jackson and Carlyle whose tall/short, silent/motormouth double act never clicks.

20
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
This tired action comedy is the usual weave of over-the-top violence and cross-cultural shtick.

20
LA Weekly
John Patterson
A waste of the filmmakers' time and ours, and offering further evidence that, outside the art house, much British cinema has its head jammed tightly up its own arse.

11
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A muddled mess of bad-lad clichés, and Jackson's obvious talents only serve to point out how godawful everyone else seems to be.

10
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
A witless, gruesome barrage of jokey violence and lame trans-Atlantic humor, kept moving by the pointless, derivative kineticism of Mr. Yu's hyperactive cuts and splices.

8
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
As sometimes occurs in unsupervised experiments, the result proves foul-smelling and potentially toxic.
0
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Stars Samuel L. Jackson in the worst role of his career -- one hopes.

0
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
An execrable mess that leaves no genre cliché unturned or human body or soul untrammeled.

0
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Not a second of it is believable; not a tenth of a second of it is refreshing; not a millionth of a second is worthwhile


The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
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