|

Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
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

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
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
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.
|
Memento
Newmarket Capital Group
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence, language and some drug content
Starring
Guy Pearce,
Carrie-Anne Moss,
Joe Pantoliano,
Mark Boone Junior,
Stephen Tobolowsky,
and
Harriet Sansom Harris
Dismissed by the police, Leonard Shelby (Pearce) is obsessed with pursuing vengeance for the rape and murder of his wife. The difficulty of his quest is compounded by his rare, untreatable form of memory loss.
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Christopher Nolan
Jonathan Nolan (story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Christopher Nolan
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 4, 2001
Video: September 4, 2001
Theatrical: March 16, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
120 minutes, B/W / Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Christopher Nolan's screenplay received Oscar, Golden Globe, AFI and Spirit Award nominations in 2001-02. Named Best Picture of 2001 by the Toronto Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society (tie with Mulholland Drive).

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
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
A delicious one-time treat.

100
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Pearce, who's in every scene except the Sammy flashbacks, dominates the picture through his feral performance.

100
Newsweek
Jeff Giles
A gripping, utterly unexpected noir, glinting with bits of poetry and a hard, deadpan humor.
100
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Memento, which may be the ultimate existential thriller, has a spooky repetitive urgency that takes on the clarity of a dream.

100
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
One of the most original and ultimately confounding mind games to reach the screen since "The Usual Suspects."

91
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
A hard and bright and tough film in all the best ways.
90
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Enthralling or infuriating.

90
Variety
Lisa Nesselson
Deconstructs time and space with Einstein-caliber dexterity in the service of a delectably disturbing tale of revenge.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
A provocatively structured and thrillingly executed film noir, an intricate, inventive use of cinema's possibilities that pushes what can be done on screen in an unusual direction.

90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Operates in an orbit somewhere between Oliver Sacks and Lewis Carroll. I can't remember when a movie has seemed so clever, strangely affecting and slyly funny at the very same time.
90
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
The video stores are filled with examples of retro-noir and neo-noir, but Christopher Nolan's audacious timebender is something else. Call it meta-noir.

90
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
A brilliant feat of rug-pulling, sure to delight fans of movies like "The Usual Suspects" and "Pi."

90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
You're exhilarated from beginning to end.

90
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Unforgettable, especially in Pearce's startling performance.

90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Like the best filmmakers at Sundance 2001, Nolan leaps into the wild blue and dares us to leap with him. Go for it.

88
USA Today
Mike Clark
Has the unanticipated craft and artfully ambiguous appeal of last year's "Croupier," a movie whose art-house word-of-mouth success could be duplicated here.

88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
This demanding puzzle is not for the "Chocolat" crowd, but those who stay with it will experience perhaps the most dazzling film released so far this year - even though a second viewing is virtually mandatory.
88
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
The most disorienting and trippiest data-retrieval caper in years.
88
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
A puzzle movie in which the puzzle is actually worth the time and effort to solve.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Terrifically satisfying film.
80
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
If nothing else, Memento is a savvy comment on the queasy uncertainties of the postmodern condition, in which history goes no further back than yesterday's news, and knowledge is supplanted by "information" from a tumult of spin-controlled, unreliable narrators.

80
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
Nolan's engrossing, backwards-ticking noir will run you so thoroughly in circles that you'll need to see it at least twice for maximum enjoyment.
80
Film.com
Peter Brunette
Despite the first-rate acting, the narrative is the star of this show, so much so that you feel yourself occasionally losing interest in the travails of the characters. Instead, you hang on every word and every tiny object, every cut and bruise in the frame, looking for clues that will help you make sense of what's going on.

80
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Nolan sustains an arty note of existential dread that probably will work better for noir-steeped film critics and overserious philosophy grad students than for general audiences, but he brings off a few brisk bravura moments.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A diabolical and absorbing experience.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
This unconventionally structured thriller moves at an energetic pace, spurred by a string of clever variations on conventional film narrative.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Fiendishly tricky contraption.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Bound to be talked about, debated and eviscerated far more than it's understood.

70
Time
Richard Schickel
The film takes this attempt to shatter narrative into little pieces about as far into incoherence as it can go; yet it is also full of odd, hypnotic menace.
70
Slate
David Edelstein
It's scary to have to puzzle out a plot line scene by scene -- scary and exhilarating, at least for an hour.

50
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Feels mostly like an audacious prank.

40
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Once you've seen it all once I bet you'll wish you were watching "Groundhog Day" -- again.

40
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Whenever Harris or Tobolowsky come on-screen they stop Memento dead in its clever tracks. You want to tell Nolan to stop all the po-mo deconstructive game playing and pay attention to the two human beings in front of him.

38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The dramatic content in Memento is as blank as Leonard's post-traumatic mental state.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 122 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|