CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

85 Alexandra
40 America the Beautiful
66 American Teen
74 Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
65 August Evening
xx Bachna Ae Haseeno
62 Baghead
58 Beautiful Losers
xx Beer for My Horses
47 Before the Rains
80 Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
56 Bottle Shock
75 Boy A
55 Bra Boys
61 Brick Lane
64 Brideshead Revisited
47 Burn After Reading
61 Bustin' Down the Door
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
54 CSNY: Déjà Vu
xx Cthulhu
86 Edge of Heaven, The
66 Elegy
52 Elsa & Fred
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
86 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
82 Frozen River
71 Girl Cut in Two, A
62 Girls Rock!
xx Goal II: Living the Dream
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
54 Hamlet 2
25 Hell Ride
44 Henry Poole is Here
76 I Served the King of England
72 I.O.U.S. A
63 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
46 Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
67 Jellyfish
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
78 Last Mistress, The
50 Last Stop for Paul
70 Love Songs
61 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
62 Mister Foe
85 Momma's Man
74 Mongol
46 My Mexican Shivah
80 Order of Myths, The
66 Patti Smith: Dream of Life
54 Ping Pong Playa
77 Pool, The
72 Priceless
61 Red
71 Roman de gare
78 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
51 Savage Grace
55 Save Me
73 Secret, A
57 Sixty Six
58 Sukiyaki Western Django
xx Surfer, Dude
83 Tell No One
56 Then She Found Me
71 To the Limit
72 Transsiberian
81 Trouble the Water
83 U2 3D
86 Up the Yangtze
79 Visitor, The
61 Wackness, The
54 What We Do Is Secret
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?
67 XXY
54 Year of the Fish
xx Young People F**king
75 Young@Heart

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Lantana
Lions Gate Films

Lantana reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 84 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.9 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language and sexuality

Starring Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey, Kerry Armstrong, and Rachael Blake

This ensemble mystery set in Australia examines the stories of four married couples, each touched by the discovery of a murdered woman.


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Andrew Bovell (also play Speaking in Tongues)  
DIRECTED BY: Ray Lawrence  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 21, 2002 
Video: May 21, 2002 
Theatrical: December 14, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Australia / Germany 

Audience Award for Best Feature, 2001 Melbourne International Film Festival; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (LaPaglia), Best Actress (Armstrong), Best Supporting Actress (Blake), Best Supporting Actor (Colosimo), Best Adapted Screenplay, 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards

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...

100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Voluptuous dance about love, pain and the whole damn thing.
Read Full Review
100
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It's one of the best surprises of the holiday season.
100
Variety David Stratton
A wonderfully acted, acutely observed psychological drama.
Read Full Review
100
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Elegant but never overstated, sinister but never coldhearted, this is a note-perfect masterwork on a modest, human scale.
Read Full Review
100
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Stuns with writing, acting, direction.
Read Full Review
100
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Astonishingly well acted film, so much so that it seems unfair to single out any of the performances. Mr. Lawrence's camera sense is as sure and unobtrusive as his feel for acting. The movie just seems to happen, to grow out of the ground like a thorny plant, revealing the intricate intelligence of its design only in hindsight.
Read Full Review
90
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Has a refreshingly keen ability to see everything from multiple angles.
Read Full Review
90
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Notable for its power of surprise and its refusal to immediately clarify the confusion of these lost souls.
Read Full Review
90
Time Richard Schickel
Lawrence's style, naturally lit and roughly realistic, matches the writing. Lantana sometimes has the air of a routine police procedural, sometimes the quality of a dour film noir. But this movie, so alert to mischance and dreams that don't quite work out as they should, has a good soul, a heart yearning for decency.
90
New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
Lawrence constructs a vivid pastiche of human foibles, nicely flavored with a touch of suspense and some well-timed jolts of humor. In the end it's a terrifically entertaining film, if not quite so profound as the makers might wish.
Read Full Review
90
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A remarkably thoughtful drama, Lantana makes it clear not only how hard to come by any emotional comfort is in this life, but more important, why we can't give up on the struggle.
Read Full Review
90
Washington Post Rita Kempley
Perceptive, powerfully acted psychodrama.
Read Full Review
90
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The acting is top-notch, and LaPaglia, who makes the cop's torment palpable, gives the performance of his career.
Read Full Review
88
Boston Globe Jay Carr
Haunting, powerfully acted, penetratingly written, it's about people coming home -- and not coming home -- to their marriages.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
More intent on engaging the heart as it explores the mysteries contained within - mysteries that, as Lawrence and his spot-on cast demonstrate, are far more compelling than simple murder.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This description no doubt makes the film seem like some kind of gimmicky puzzle. What's surprising is how easy it is to follow the plot, and how the coincidences don't get in the way.
Read Full Review
83
Portland Oregonian Ted Mahar
The story is ingeniously intricate but never gimmicky or implausible. As it develops, the suspense grows about what direction the story could possibly take next.
Read Full Review
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
It's LaPaglia's finest, deepest role and he's matched by Armstrong, who makes Sonja's undaunting optimism palpable within a trying marriage that's gulping for breath.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Striking for its performances -- especially Anthony LaPaglia.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Steeped in quiet despair, Lantana is a psychological thriller that emphasizes the psychology over the thrills. It's a smart, heart-twisting picture.
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
This isn't a mystery except in the most general sense. It's a dense, Altman-esque psychological drama centering on 10 characters whose lives become as tangled as the lantana.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
While the movie is well acted and creative, its story and style are too self-consciously clever to build a high degree of emotional power.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
In addition to the strong script, the ensemble performances are topnotch, with no one hogging the limelight.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
For the briefest of moments, someone not paying attention might mistake Lantana for a mystery. -- Lantana is actually an examination of human interaction.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
There's some genuine suspense in Lantana, including one unbearably tense moment that is worthy of Hitchcock. But the movie's most unnerving aspect is the way in which it suggests true happiness may be impossible to regain once you've lost it.
70
Film Threat Michael Dequina
Love is indeed the greatest mystery, as Lantana's tagline goes, and while the film is ultimately still and interesting and fairly involving one, it's a bit unfortunate that the filmmakers weren't content to simply explore that quandary instead of manufacturing another.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
While viewers who expect a conventional suspense film may be disappointed in Lantana overall, it does succeed on a smaller, more intimate scale.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Frank Lovece
Thought-provoking but proceeding at a crawl, the film suffers from performances that are virtually all pitched to the same note of existential ennui -- thank goodness, then, for Rush, who's arrives like a wake-up blast of compressed air.
Read Full Review
30
Village Voice Dennis Lim
The scenario eventually becomes so coincidence-choked that the filmmakers have no choice but to play it for mild snickers.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

parker gave it a10:
Simply superb in virtually all phases: acting, scene orchestration, directing,, etc. captivating throughout, unpretentious, with unusual depth & perception in evidence. thought provoking.

Slobodan gave it a10:
Just excellent.

Dave C. gave it a 4:
Dreary melodrama. The characters are about as interesting as cardboard.

Liz gave it a 9:
Beautifully acted and scripted.

Richard gave it a 9:
Twisty and involving. Some of the relationships seem a little too convenient, but it's well-acted across the board.

John T. gave it a 9:
Lantana is a gripping and beautifully shot experience.

R. Cundell gave it a 10:
A thoroughly absorbing story, storylines woven together effortlessly, very realistic and moving performances, it's my favorite movie of 2001.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: Fantasy Football | Miley Cyrus | MLB | iPhone 3G | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use