CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Film

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

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
49 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
44 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Other Side of Heaven, The
Excel Entertainment

Other Side of Heaven, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 38 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.2 out of 10
based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for thematic elements and brief disturbing images

Starring Christopher Gorham, Anne Hathaway, Joe Folau, Miriama Smith, Nathaniel Lees, Whetu Fala, Alvin Fitisemanu, and Peter Sa'ena Brown

This romantic coming of age story is based on the memoirs of John H. Groberg, who served as a missionary in the remote Tongan Islands in the 1950's. (Excel Entertainment Group)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Mitch Davis
John H. Groberg (book In the Eye of the Storm)
 
DIRECTED BY: Mitch Davis  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: April 1, 2003 
Video: April 1, 2003 
Theatrical: April 12, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 113 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: 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...

63
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Captures a breathtaking exotic landscape cluttered only by the smugness of its characters.
Read Full Review
63
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
It is inspirational in characterizing how people from such diverse cultures share the same human and spiritual needs.
Read Full Review
60
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
A tad preachy and more than a little bit sanctimonious.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Chris Willman
Slick, fact-based, missionary-themed drama.
Read Full Review
50
Variety Scott Foundas
Rousing, family-friendly item has a big, epic look and state-of-the-art visual effects, which help to make pic -- a high-profile example of the mainstreaming of Christian entertainment.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Easier to sit through than the typical, earnest Christian movie.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Handsome and sincere but slightly awkward in its combination of entertainment and evangelical boosterism.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Earnest, fact-based drama is marred only by the fact that it wants desperately to save your soul.
40
TV Guide Ken Fox
The film looks great and makes sophisticated use of digital effects.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly Ron Stringer
A fine specimen of clean-cut Mormon family entertainment, but it may also be a step in the wrong direction for the fledgling production company.
Read Full Review
40
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Movies don't get much more wholesome and earnest than The Other Side Of Heaven, a handsomely mounted but empty-headed drama that attempts to do for fresh-faced Mormon missionaries what Top Gun did for cocky fighter pilots.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
The whole trippy experience is like being held at gunpoint by a Jehovah's Witness at the front door while George Gobel holds forth in the living room on Nickelodeon.
Read Full Review
40
Village Voice Ed Park
Strangely coy about its denominational allegiance.
Read Full Review
38
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
The film is supposed to be about tolerance, but the only acceptance comes in terms of how the islanders accept the Mormon teachings. Somehow, that doesn't quite feel divine.
Read Full Review
30
Chicago Reader Joshua Rothkopf
Suffers from suspense-killing righteousness.
Read Full Review
10
The New York Times Stephen Holden
What sets this syrupy swatch of kitsch apart from other films peddling a dogmatic religious agenda is the serious money that obviously went into it.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 54 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Howard Y. gave it a9:
I very much enjoyed this movie, as it DID provide wholesome family entertainment that refrained from the use of violence, sex, or profanity. However, I feel that I must point out to those who did not enjoy the movie, that this was not "Mormon" propaganda, as no one forced you to watch this, and that the film was intended, not limited to, but for Mormons. It was a film that was intended to tell a story about service and self-sacriice, not one of preachiness or "propaganda".

Salome K. gave it a10:
It was a wonderful movie but it makes me homesick for my Island.

Timothy S. gave it a10:
I thought this movie was more than preaching about LDS (mormon) view points; is a good old fashion movie about faith, hope and love and I think its to bad that the anti-mormon/christian media cannot accept a wholesom movie that is lacking in sex, violence and profanity.

john gave it a1:
Patronizing, obviously fictional bull!@#$. I agree with most of the real critics on this one.

Scott P. gave it a10:
How his feet were treated (medical) by the local Tongan people. was my favorite part. Then all he went through to get there, what faith he must of had to know all would work out.

Tongan N. gave it a0:
I was so angrey when at the funural on the movie the lady cried and creid then fliped over and asked " is the pudding ready." What do they think we are fat, unthoughtful people? This truly affected me and im only 13.

Gena S. gave it a10:
Fabulous movie, I laughed, cried, and throughly enjoyed every minute of this movie.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | BOOKS | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use