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Mister Lonely
IFC Films

Mister Lonely reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 53 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.5 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, James Fox, Melita Morgan, and Anita Pallenberg

Only Harmony Korine could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple, and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. The film follows a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator who is invited by a beautiful Marilyn Monroe to a commune in the Scottish Highlands full of other impersonators, including the Queen of England, Madonna, Sammy Davis Jr., and James Dean. In a parallel storyline, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly. (IFC Films)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Harmony Korine
Avi Korine
 
DIRECTED BY: Harmony Korine  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 18, 2008 
Theatrical: May 2, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 112 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK / France / Ireland / USA 

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
Film Threat Don R. Lewis
The film is damn near a masterpiece. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long to see what Korine will do next.
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91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Travis Nichols
Korine's latest film, Mister Lonely, is no different, but this film has a sweetness that has rarely, if ever, been present in his previous work.
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75
Premiere Glenn Kenny
What to make of it all? Hard to say. Just to take in the fact that its soundtrack is made up of music by both J. Spaceman and Sun City Girls is to understand that this is a picture that's divided against itself in a way that's perhaps too hermetic to be comprehended.
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75
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Korine is finding his way toward artistic greatness by searching his soul. It's possible that the man in the mirror is him.
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70
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mister Lonely, self-enclosed though it may be, nonetheless demonstrates that Mr. Korine, who showed his ability to shock and repel in earlier films, also has the power to touch, to unsettle and to charm. This is undoubtedly a small movie, but it's also more than that: it's a small, imperfect world.
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70
Washington Post Desson Thomson
What engages us is Korine's revolutionary way of telling stories. It's as though he's downloading his dreams directly onto the screen.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
This film may be Korine's most accessible as a director, featuring characters, images, and situations that are stirring and unforgettable – even if they don't add up to a complete narrative or visual whole.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
Like so many lovely cinematic dreams, Mister Lonely inevitably descends into nightmare, with an unsettlingly grim conclusion that, again, seems more imagistic than idea-driven.
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60
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Not all of the movie works - in fact, huge portions don't - but there are enough striking moments to make a lasting impact. How ironic: In this fairy-tale of arrested development, Korine has created his most mature movie yet.
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60
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
While it's full of arresting, indelible images, Mr. Lonely remains mostly on the level of abstraction. You get it but you don't always feel it.
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60
Variety Scott Foundas
Less outre than "Gummo" and "Julien Donkey-Boy," Korine's most lavishly produced pic to date begins as a sweet-tempered tale of social misfits-turned-celebrity impersonators, but falls short of its ambition to say something meaningful about the obsessive nature of celebrity culture.
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50
New York Magazine David Edelstein
I'm glad Korine has pulled himself together, but the film is pretty ramshackle, full of obvious group improvisations that fail to spark and an overdose of bathos.
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50
Village Voice Jim Ridley
Co-written with his brother Avi, Mister Lonely is startlingly straightforward compared to his earlier work. But, like that work, it stands or falls on each single, self-contained scene.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Decidedly loopy and nonlinear, Mister Lonely is precious and artsy, but there are moments when Korine's, er, unique vision brings something bold and beautiful to the table.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
As a work of entertainment, as a cohesive narrative and as an artistic whole, there's no way to call it anything but an on-balance average effort. Yet there's nothing remotely average about the movie's warm spirit, its imaginative and arresting cinematography or its handful of unique, brilliant scenes and shrewd, bizarre performances.
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50
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
As in Korine's other movies, characterization is often just amplified weirdness.
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50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
An odd, desperate film, lost in its own audacity, and yet there are passages of surreal beauty and preposterous invention that I have to admire. The film doesn't work, and indeed seems to have no clear idea of what its job is, and yet (sigh) there is the temptation to forgive its trespasses simply because it is utterly, if pointlessly, original.
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42
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Has its moments of wonder and beauty, but the film is obscure by design, and meant to appeal to those who favor the alternative canon of directing greats: the one that includes the likes of Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Crispin Glover, John Cassavetes, Claire Denis, Abel Ferrara, and Vincent Gallo.
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38
TV Guide Ken Fox
The film is really little more than an array of sometimes imaginative images.
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38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Some films, like some people, wear their artsy pretensions on their sleeve, and there really isn't much going on beneath – it's just a posturing armband wrapped around a plain arm. Welcome, then, to the emptiness of Mister Lonely, a movie that goes to extraordinary lengths to say ordinary things.
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25
New York Post Kyle Smith
Occasionally there is a striking image or a moment of wounded sweetness, but mainly the film provides ample proof that it's possible to be bizarre and boring at the same time.
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25
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
None of the faux icons comes close to being a character. Instead, they are contrasted with a group of nuns who skydive without parachutes. Could this possibly be a metaphor for Korine's filmmaking? It certainly goes splat.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kim T gave it a10:
Amazing movie. Funny. Clever. Bittersweet. Reading behind the lines is included.

Phil M. gave it a2:
Nice images, boringly slow and long.

Nick D. gave it a10:
This movie seems very polarizing for obvious reasons. It's classically structured, but deliberately, deliriously non-linear. If you're willing to look past its outward weirdness, there is great beauty and some truly genius film making. Korine's best yet!

Jay H. gave it a2:
I just loathe over stylish pretentious films. Absurd, incredibly boring and found nothing of interest. Just a bunch of artsy tripe. Utter garbage.

MJ gave it a9:
This is one of the most interesting films i have ever seen. It is an artistic achievement that i believe is far ahead of its time. every scene is brimming with such playfulness and originality that i can't help but compare Korine to that of early Jean- Luc Godard. Mister Lonely is almost pure movie.

Fred P. gave it a0:
I thought maybe gaining 90 pounds, getting married and moving to Tennessee would help Korine focus and make something worth watching. Nope.

Gigi M. gave it an8:
Beautiful images and some amazing/funny scenes. Not for everyone though. That's okay. A little self-indulgent at times, but I still really liked it. Happy to see Harmony Korine making movies again.

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