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Ulee's Gold

EMAILPRINTOrion Pictures Corporation

Ulee's Gold reviews
77
8.3 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Victor Nunez

Directed by: Victor Nunez

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 6, 1997
DVD: May 1, 2001

Running Time: 111 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R

Starring Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Christine Dunford, Tom Wood, Jessica Biel, Vanessa Zima, Steven Flynn, and Dewey Weber

The story of Ulysses Jackson (Fonda), a solitary beekeeper working in the tupelo marshes of the Florida Panhandle and caring for his two grandchildren. The trio lives an ordered, if somewhat narrow life until a call from Jackson's son in jail changes everything. (Orion Pictures)

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

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Ulee's Gold is a story of redemption, and Nunez doesn't make redemption look any easier than it is.

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90

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Beautiful and heartfelt, an oasis of humanity in a season of furious hyperbole.

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90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Ulee's Gold stands out for its sureness, its quiet emotional force and writer-director Victor Nunez's ability to find and nurture the mystery and power in the events of an ordinary life.

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90

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Though it occasionally wears its metaphors on its sleeve, Ulee's Gold should, if there's any justice, find the same thoughtful-drama-hungry audience that made "Sling Blade" a hit.

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90

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Nunez finds a striking lyricism in simple lives that inspires an uncommonly fine cast and ranks him as a world-class filmmaker.

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89

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Fonda brings all of his childhood frustration and angst to the screen in one of the year's most unexpectedly brilliant acting performances.

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88

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The highest compliment I can offer Ulee's Gold is that it plays more like real life than a movie.

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88

USA Today Mike Clark

An emotionally honest low-ebber that builds to a satisfying wrap-up.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Nunez has a gift for finding the essence, the soul, of his actors.

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80

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

Nunez is a master at rendering emotionally complex, ordinary folk into the kind of unassuming heroes that don't much appear in American films anymore.

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80

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The film becomes a modest delight.

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80

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Leisurely pacing of this kind is likely to register as a form of respect for the viewer's intelligence and observation.

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80

Newsweek David Ansen

Ulee's Gold possesses an attribute that's increasingly rare in American filmmaking, independent or Hollywood: call it soul.

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75

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Nunez's style is quiet, simple and deliberate, but the film never drags.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Peter Fonda's the bee's knees in the performance of his career.

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70

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Still, flaws and all, we have to be grateful to Nunez for persisting in his independence.

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70

Slate David Edelstein

Nunez's movies go places, but with no acceleration.

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70

Variety Todd McCarthy

Nunez achieves a rare, and rarely earned, emotional depth that rewards the moderate demands he makes on contemporary viewers' short attention spans.

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70

Film.com Tom Keogh

A very pleasant experience in watching life unfold in its own direction and time.

60

New Times (L.A.) Michael Sragow

Nunez's direction is as self-consciously homey as a floral welcome mat.

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60

TV Guide Ken Fox

The power of an otherwise carefully crafted film is undone by risky and not altogether successful casting.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Worthy but dull.

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50

Time Richard Schickel

Nunez's film neither floats like a butterfly nor stings like a bee. It just drones on.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

frasier k. gave it a10:
Great movie with acting ove jessica beil.

Pat C. gave it an 8:
Authentic and appropriately crafted. Fonda's character seems dull witted as an actual person, but is not a dumbed down composite character. This film is worth the investment of time for the thoughtful movie goer, but it doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator.

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