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Lawless Heart
First Look Pictures Releasing


5.0

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality/nudity and language

Starring Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Douglas Henshall, Clémentine Célarié, Ellie Haddington, Sukie Smith, Josephine Butler, and Stuart Laing

A sharp, modern love story where lust, love and loyalty are stretched to their limits. Told from three different perspectives, Lawless Heart reveals the comic and subtle realities of modern relationships. (First Look Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Tom Hunsinger Neil Hunter
DIRECTED BY:	Tom Hunsinger Neil Hunter
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 19, 2003 Video: August 19, 2003 Theatrical: February 21, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	99 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

Winner, Best Screenplay, 2002 British Independent Film Festival

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

Slate David Edelstein

An unassuming gem: an impishly funny, melancholy, absolutely delightful English ensemble drama.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Working toward its refreshingly light but utterly apt ending, the film teems with insights into the human condition revealed by an unusually smart script and a wonderfully committed cast. It's a truly fine work.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Virtually nothing at all is wrapped up in The Lawless Heart, which is probably why it feels so satisfyingly whole by the end.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

By allowing the stories to play off one another and allowing layers of meaning to accumulate before we even notice them, the filmmakers capture some of the essential strangeness of life -- the way our relations are governed by laws that remain invisible to us until art reveals their workings.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Charming, disarming and in some ways humbling film.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

So well crafted, so original, that each overlapping scene swells with new life and interpretation.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Sharp, witty and decidedly different.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The thread that winds through their stories is love lost and connections found, but only the audience is able to weave it into something to keep.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Its protagonists' hearts aren't lawless so much as stuck in various states of quiet desperation, and the modest charms of this observant, affecting film fortunately bear little relation to the sensationalistic label.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Tom Hollander gives a strong performance as the considerate and quietly grieving young man.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

One beautiful piece of work--as alert and aware a survey of interpersonal relations as you're likely to find at the movies this year.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's an intriguing experience.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

For these gifted directors and their fine ensemble, the notion that every life forms into a mosaic of intimate, largely unobserved details is the story most worth telling.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Solid acting and engaging characters round out the neatly assembled tale.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The purpose of the movie is perhaps to show us, in a quietly amusing way, that while we travel down our own lifelines, seeing everything from our own points of view, we hardly suspect the secrets of the lives we intersect with.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A little like a British Eric Rohmer film -- a lot of talk, and a lot of talk about love and relationships -- Lawless Heart has wit and a winning charm.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Perfectly modulated in its tone and performances, Lawless Heart is content to be a small, quiet film. We could use a few more like it.

Variety Derek Elley

This slyly humorous, cleverly constructed comedy-drama wends its way through different takes on similar time frames to a warm, inclusive ending.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The storytelling structure is far more interesting than the story itself. And the elegiac pictures of boats and water are, dismayingly, most engrossing of all.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

It takes a while to get used to the fractured narrative, but once done it is easy to put your mind on autopilot and go with the offbeat characters and events.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Gimmickry is death to this sort of artsy endeavour -- it turns a movie with a small budget into a small movie.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Despite its leisurely pace, this unpretentious, character-driven picture is a low-key charmer.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The result is a film that's honest and tepid, intelligent and dull, worthy and forgettable.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Like grieving itself, the film is awkward, messily honest, and sometimes darkly funny.

Film Threat Phil Hall

About as funny as a funeral.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Vicki W. gave it a 0:
Too bad I couldn't choose a negative rating for this gay men's film that bashes every heterosexual relationship (ie: marriage, friends, dating, & pick-up) as lying, unfaithful, depraved men using cold or stupid women in every way possible.

Noel F. gave it a 9:
Well acted, it begins 3 times from 3 points of view which in the end answers all. Comic, yes in an understated way, but life affirming with everyone not getting what they want but perhaps what they need. Bill Nighy is stellar and the rest solid in this offbeat gem.

Lesley P. gave it a 6:
Refreshing, clever story line, no belly laughs but filled with wry humour. Surprising/frustrating at times. A change from many films put out there today - a difficult one to recommend to anyone.

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Lawless Heart First Look Pictures Releasing

Lawless Heart
First Look Pictures Releasing