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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
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66
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74
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48
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56
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Beaches of Agnes, The
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Brothers Bloom, The
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Easy Virtue
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End of the Line, The
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Girl from Monaco, The
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Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
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Little Ashes
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New York
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Seraphine
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Song of Sparrows, The
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Under Our Skin
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Unmistaken Child
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Valentino: The Last Emperor
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What Goes Up
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Whatever Works
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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.
|
Stage Beauty
Lions Gate Films Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for sexual content and language
Starring
Billy Crudup,
Claire Danes,
Rupert Everett,
Tom Wilkinson,
Ben Chaplin,
Hugh Bonneville,
Richard Griffiths, Edward Fox,
and
Zoe Tapper
Set in 1660's England, this is the story of the first female actor to appear legally in England and the last male actor to make his career by playing women.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jeffrey Hatcher (also play)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Richard Eyre
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 8, 2005
Video: March 8, 2005
Theatrical: October 8, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / Germany / USA |

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...
90
The Hollywood Reporter
Ray Bennett
Those who thought "Shakespeare In Love" was as good as it gets in intelligent costume romantic comedy will find that director Richard Eyre and writer Jeffrey Hatcher have taken the form to a higher level.

90
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
Crudup is whole. He creates the man who has pride in what he does, who is suddenly stripped of the work and the pride; and who makes his way, somewhat painfully, to another sort of pride. His story is a small but acute poignancy in the history of the theater, and Crudup realizes it completely.

88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
A rich, shining valentine to the British theater and the eternal joys of Shakespeare,

88
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
It's not as clever, or as consistently funny, or as well-cast as "Shakespeare in Love," but Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty is the most fun I've had with the Bard since that 1998 Oscar winner.

80
Empire
Alan Morrison
A film that, despite being about theatre itself, is remarkably cinematic and entirely unafraid to revel in the English language.

80
Variety
David Rooney
This skillfully acted, handsomely crafted frock piece toys cleverly with gender confusion and sexual identity.

80
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
The movie blows a fresh wind of disrespect, high drama and lush romanticism through that stolidly middlebrow subgenre, the period drama.

80
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Sly and witty.

75
USA Today
Mike Clark
Beauty is about two-thirds the serious-edged romp it would like to be, which still leaves a lot of room for tony fun.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Claire Danes is as fresh as running water in this role, exhibiting the clarity and directness that has become her strength; her characters tend to know who they are, and why.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Expertly directed by Richard Eyre (Iris) from Jeffrey Hatcher's play, the film is bawdy fun.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
In the popularity sweepstakes, Stage Beauty may earn top honors, outdoing the overrated "Shakespeare in Love" as a dramatic comedy about life and love in an era more naive - but hardly more innocent - than our own.

75
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
Sometimes teeters on the verge of going completely over the top, but it's mostly saved by its own self-awareness.

75
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
Has a weird, compelling energy, fueled by a deliciously dynamic cast, a cheerfully bawdy and odd story line and a refreshing, impossible romance.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
An entertainment as billowy as a Shakespearean nurse's sail-shaped hat.

70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Crudup, whose features have the appropriate delicacy, plays Ned with complete conviction; its difficult to imagine anyone else succeeding as well.

70
Newsweek
David Ansen
It's a marvelous premise, and Crudup's serpentine performance has a venomous grace. But Jeffrey Hatcher's screenplay too often sacrifices psychological insight for bogus theatricality.

70
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The movie's sexual politics couldn't be more regressive--Crudup learns to be a man in the sack as well as on the boards--but it's still a competent middlebrow costume drama.

70
Washington Post
Teresa Wiltz
Ultimately this is a celebration of the theater, a big, wet kiss to the craft of acting and the artists who inhabited London's early stages.

70
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
The design is gorgeous, the dialogue delicious, and even the supporting characters prove resonant.

67
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
For those to whom life is but a stage, this will be sweet, sweet candy; to those of us destined to be their audience, it's a satisfying, if flawed, look behind the curtain.

63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
At best, the film makes a more convincing case for the adventure of artificiality: Take Billy Crudup, add a little rouge to his cheeks and suddenly: Voilà, the guy can act.

63
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
In the end, viewers are left with a nagging feeling that this was a long way to go for the incongruous pleasure of watching 20th-century method acting on a 17th-century stage.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
For every thing that Stage Beauty does right, it fumbles at least one other element, resulting in a movie-going experience that is of the glass half-full/half-empty variety.

63
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Yet Crudup does good, mercurial work despite a silly surfer-dude haircut.

60
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
As drama, Stage Beauty is both timorous and ungainly, words that might also describe Ms. Danes's performance.

60
TV Guide
Angel Cohn
The film is an intriguing and hugely theatrical experience whose effectiveness is greatly enhanced by gorgeous period costumes and set design.

58
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A celebration of the theater that tends to drag the moment it's out of drag.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
There's an enjoyably literate style here and some humorous moments.

50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The wigs, hats and gowns look realistic, gorgeous and utterly right. In a vapid confection like Stage Beauty, perhaps that's what really counts.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
The film rarely matches Crudup's performance, appearing confused itself about whether it's farce or drama.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Over-orchestrated and underdeveloped interpretation of Jeffrey Hatcher's play.

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
As historical speculation, it's clever enough. As a film, it glows with flop-sweat.

50
Premiere
Staff (Not Credited)
The result is more bawdy diversion than historical fable.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Both interesting and insufferable.

40
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Most frustrating, Stage Beauty fumbles XX/XY politics at every turn.

40
The New Yorker
David Denby
Second-rate bawdiness--that is, bawdiness without the wit of Boccaccio or Shakespeare or even Tom Stoppard--is more infantile than funny, and Im not sure that the American playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, who concocted this piece for the stage and then adapted it into a movie, is even second-rate.

40
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
In the end, Stage Beauty is in over its mediocre head.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
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