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Man Who Cried, The
Universal Focus

Man Who Cried, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 40 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.4 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality

Starring Christina Ricci, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Johnny Depp, and Harry Dean Stanton

A girl whose name and language are taken away, who loses everything and everyone she loves and is driven into silence, nevertheless finds a singing voice and finally manages to find her long lost father. (Universal Focus)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Sally Potter (also story)  
DIRECTED BY: Sally Potter  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 2, 2002 
Video: January 2, 2002 
Theatrical: May 25, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK / France 

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...

75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is an amazingly ambitious movie, not so much because of the time and space it covers (a lot), but because Potter trusts us to follow her heroine through one damn thing after another.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It feels both big and little, concentrating as it does on the small movements in people's lives and the huge tides of history.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Melodramatic and strangely moving.
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Though the film falls short of its aspirations, there's something magical about it. It's a poetic look at transience, betrayal, loss and doom.
63
USA Today Andy Seiler
A curious but intriguing movie that leaves you bemused and more than a little confused.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Ricci brings her trademark gravity to the wary Suzie, but Blanchett's role is the dazzler.
Read Full Review
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's a strange and strangely unaffecting little drama -- but played very flat, with no particular emotional impact sought or achieved.
Read Full Review
50
Boston Globe Jay Carr
The imagery is lush, but the story is pretty cornball, with an ending that can only be called pure Hollywood. Only the marvelous Cate Blanchett transcends stereotype.
50
Film.com Tom Keogh
While we may like what we see, it's impossible to comprehend what much of it means or why we should care.
Read Full Review
50
New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
There's nothing particularly wrong with this whole setup; it's just very by-the-numbers.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
There's only one performer in the movie who looks completely at ease with what he's doing: the horse.
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40
The New York Times A.O. Scott
It's hard to be drawn into a movie if you're never entirely sure what it's supposed to be about, other than about 100 minutes.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
A thing of beauty. But then so is a cloud and I wouldn't want to stare at one of those for an hour and half.
Read Full Review
40
Village Voice J. Hoberman
The Man Who Cried is like a Yiddish generational tearjerker told from the perspective of the lost child rather than that of the bereaved parent.
Read Full Review
40
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Potter gets the period details right, but the film itself has long since flown off the rails, miring good intentions in rank soap opera.
Read Full Review
38
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
It's a thinly disguised lecture about intolerance, spotted with historical inaccuracies and groaning with dialogue so dreadful that it makes a fine cast look ridiculous again and again.
Read Full Review
38
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The result is a movie that talks big, even walks big, but has no scale whatsoever.
Read Full Review
30
Variety Deborah Young
Sally Potter, who leapt to critical attention with her 1992 adaptation of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" -- makes a serious misstep with The Man Who Cried.
Read Full Review
30
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
There is even less going on between Ricci and Depp here than there was in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," mostly because Potter gives them nothing to play.
Read Full Review
20
Washington Post Desson Thomson
The driving drama of such a desperate situation is lost in the movie's casting silliness.
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20
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
A star ensemble is preposterously miscast.
Read Full Review
20
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
The film's a vacuous bore.

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat C. gave it a3:
An important story, but it's told without craftsmanship and contains characters without personality nuances. The plot continuity has holes you could drive a truck through. Not even Blanchett, inexplicably mis-cast, can save this one.

Hazel C. gave it a 10:
This movie makes people more sensitive, and i think christina ricci has an impressive performance.

Hiro S. gave it a 9:
The conbination of Jonny Depp and Christina Ricci makes a special atmosphare which is express deep saddness with attachment for tribes, family and profound culture. People who experienced any king subtle discrimination from others would understand the theme of the movie. No matter jew, Indian, Orientals, people bearing a kind of woe of discrimination.

Maryann gave it a 10:
Was this movie played in the USA at all? Loved it got it for christmas.

Rachel K. gave it a 9:
[***SPOILERS***] I really liked this movie. johnny depp was awesome, but i think that no matter what. i do agree that his character was rather underdeveloped, but oh well. i think the title could have been better, he cries in one little scene. i didn't like that depp screwed ricci before he'd even kissed her, and my friend spent a lot of time wondering how the sex on the chair would work. i personally think that she should have stayed with depp, when she went to america and met her father, he had a new life completely without her. i don't think his wife and children would have welcomed her into the family, but i think depp's family would have. anyway, i liked the movie, but there were things that could have been better.

Gokmen balat gave it a 10:
This is perfect movie... Very romantic...

Kay gave it a 9:
I thought that this was a beautiful and emotionally deep film. the comparison of money and fame but unhappiness to true love but poverty was unbelievable. the best part of the story (in my opinion) is following the the love intrest part of the movie. the characters of johnny depp and christina ricci go through an amazing bond of love and fight through discrimination and war. this film left me sobbing in tears by the end and im sure it will for any other hopeless romantic.

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