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Laurel Canyon
Sony Pictures Classics


6.8

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
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Rate this movie

FILM:

High Art

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, language and drug use

Starring Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, and Alessandro Nivola

A rigorously honest exploration of relationships between people with wildly divergent world views. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Lisa Cholodenko
DIRECTED BY:	Lisa Cholodenko
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 15, 2003 Video: July 15, 2003 Theatrical: March 7, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A romantic comedy of grace notes and mini-epiphanies -- mini, that is, except for Ms. McDormand's Jane, who is memorable to the max.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Cholodenko takes us inside a bohemian hive where everyone buzzes around the Queen Bee. McDormand is superb. Likewise Bale and Nivola.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

This is a plum of a part, and McDormand gorges herself. [10 March 2003, p. 94]

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Cholodenko and her actors pull it off; the performances here are like a wary ballet, ruled as much by the mysterious magnetic attractions and repulsions these characters feel for one another as by anything so dully explicable as psychology or standard rules of social conduct.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Frances McDormand plays the record-producing mother with the nativity that talent makes possible.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Reconfirms the filmmaker's talent as an acutely observant chronicler of upscale bohemian subcultures.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

McDormand has never been better, but all the performances are interestingly nuanced, including Natascha McElhone's as one of Bale's fellow psychiatric interns.

Chicago Tribune Loren King

Laurel Canyon itself feels musical: languid, rich in color and light, and deliciously sensual.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Compelling tale of a free-spirited record producer, played with perfect pitch by Frances McDormand.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The story of Laurel Canyon doesn't ultimately live up to the technical polish Cholodenko brings to it, but it's worth a visit if you want to check out the latest emotional vibes emanating from the Hollywood Hills.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Bale, one of the most intriguing actors of his generation, plays a young man rebelling against his liberal upbringing with a mix of bemusement and lost-puppy anguish, making this film as much about mothers and sons as struggling couples.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Ultimately lacks the narrative muscle that could have made it great. But it does have McDormand, who is great in this, her best showcase since "Fargo."

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

In its milieu and parallel story lines, the film suggests a bantam "Short Cuts," but for better and for worse, this is Altman without the razored edge. Cholodenko elicits appealing performances from her ensemble, but she never pushes their characters anywhere there isn't an easy out.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Thanks to the performances and the general looseness of the script, the movie is more appealing than it has any business being.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Authenticity is strangely lacking in Laurel Canyon, although Cholodenko’s exquisite eye for framing remains uncorrupted. Laurel Canyon is often visually captivating.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The cast is as likable as it is improbable (especially Nivola, who all but steals the movie as the charmingly decadent rocker).

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Frances McDormand rescues this role from the throes of cliche. It's as though drippy dialogue and sappy rock were a small price to pay for a part that lets her flash her breasts, get stoned, and join in a three-way.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The performers are all keen at expressing different variations on uptightness and with-itness. And McDormand is sensational.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Inasmuch as Cholodenko has an agenda in her two movies so far -- what appears to be a lesbian-positive theme of openness to experimentation and its accompanying emotional costs -- she's found a model in McDormand's portrayal of Jane.

Empire Angie Errigo

Like a late ’60s satire played embarrassingly seriously.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Occasionally, the film invites a more dynamic touch than the careful slowness Cholodenko carries over from "High Art." But that same care gives the movie a seductive quality that would have been lost in a more hurried approach.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

McDormand is the best thing about Laurel Canyon. She's also the most unfortunate victim of a film that seems unable or unwilling to give even its most intriguing and compulsively watchable character her due.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The spectacle of pretty people floating languidly across the screen notwithstanding, Laurel Canyon is short on conviction and long on contrivance. McDormand, however, has a ball.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Laurel Canyon lacks the sense of risk that "High Art" had, and in doing so, emasculates its apparent protagonist in Sam.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The story is less a sustained narrative than a series of scenes. But personal dynamics are the main event, and McDormand's powerhouse performance alone compensates for many minor deficiencies.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The characters are tedious, as are the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale. Everything good in this rock & roll fantasy belongs to the sexy, worldly-wise McDormand, who makes Jane ripe, real, and irresistible.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Cholodenko doesn't put much activity into her languid movies. Watching them is like sagging back on the couch at a party that has run past 2 a.m., knowing we can leave -- surely nothing exciting is yet to happen? -- but basking lazily in the pleasant atmosphere of half-intoxicated flirtations.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The plot is straightforward and predictable to the point of painfulness.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Not a successful movie--it's too stilted and pre-programmed to come alive--but in the center of it McDormand occupies a place for her character and makes that place into a brilliant movie of its own.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

An underdevelopment of a bad idea that is entertaining, so far as it is, because of McDormand's totally unselfconscious performance. This wonderful actress is never less than interesting, and even as a caricature of a stereotype, she's fun to watch.

Film Threat Merle Bertrand

Rife with predictability and lacking any originality whatsoever, the lackluster Laurel Canyon demonstrates about as much depth as one of Ian's pop songs.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Frances McDormand deserves much better than Lisa Cholodenko’s flat-footed Laurel Canyon...McDormand alone makes the picture worth seeing: Her character is a rash combo of steel and dissolution and regret.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Worst of all is the movie's finale, a noble attempt to avoid an overly-pat conclusion that strays too far in the opposite direction.

LA Weekly Mark Olsen

Cholodenko's new film relies on easy caricature over true character such that the film fails to build emotional momentum or resonance.

Variety Todd McCarthy

The dramatic trajectory is frightfully obvious, the characters tediously one-dimensional, the dialogue banal.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A clumsy package of clichés.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Katie gave it a10:
Best movie I've seen in years! Brilliant performances by Alessandro Nivola, Kate Beckinsale and Frances McDormand. I never get tired of watching this one.

J. Ryan G. gave it a6:
Films shouldn't have to try this hard.

Stephen S. gave it a 5:
Having almost sabotaged her film, Cholodenko redeems herself with two "money shots" carrying genuine emotional impact. That is to say, when the wife and mother of the male lead (Christian Bale) declare their true feelings for him. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept. A serious young med student gets into all kinds of emotional strife by taking his serious young bride to stay with his embarrassingly louche record-producer mother. Problem one is casting. Frances McDormand is great as mother Jane, a difficult role combining heart, intelligence and lust. Alessandro Nivola coolly plays the cocky Brit pop singer having the affair with her. But how could anyone put Kate Beckinsale up against a trouper like McDormand, especially as Alex, super-brain scrabble player and genetics researcher? When we're still in recovery from Nicole Kidman's weird concept of Virginia Woolf? Problem two is motivation. No sooner arrived at Jane's house, our budding PhD files away her inhibitions and unwraps a remarkably eclectic Laurel Canyon libido. This complete behavioural U-turn is accompanied by scarcely any demonstration that Alex would actually have any such leanings. Then there's the cinematic style, oscillating between Junior Auteur and Sex in the City meets E.R. Finally, there's the finale, where Cholodenko simply closes up shop abruptly. I might buy this kind of anticlimax from someone like John Sayles, but only just.

Sasha B. gave it an 8:
Laurel Canyon had me drawn in from the get-go. Fans of High Art will appreciate Lisa Cholodenko's second take on Love, obsession, art, and the subculture of a generation. Frances McDormand's performance was captivating as well as the rest of the supporting cast. The music was excellent and I will definately go out and buy this soundtrack. This movie is not directed at the mainstream audience however if your like me, and appreciate moody, psychologically complex films, you'll like this one too.

Chad S. gave it a 7:
Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale are good here, but only when they're in the same scene with Frances McDormand. "Laurel Canyon" gets deadly boring when Bale's paired up with Natascha McElhone. We don't care at all about their affair. We love McDormand at the controls during the recording sessions and her feuds with the label. As Alex, Beckinsale has a tin ear for not liking the great Sparklehorse song.

PhantomFrame gave it an 8:
Frances McD is brilliant!! Worth the price of admission just to see her, but I enjoyed the film overall.

Marc K. gave it a 6:
This film wasn't bad, but nowhere near what I see some of these critics are giving it. Frances McDormand is a favorite of mine, but I fail to see the incredible performance that all these critics have seen. Most interesting performance? Definitely Natascha McElhone. However, the worst casting is Kate Beckinsale. She is far too hot to be playing a moussy, naive geek. She does a good American accent though.

Laurel Canyon Sony Pictures Classics

Laurel Canyon
Sony Pictures Classics