|

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.

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
74
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)
58
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
52
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
49
Noise
60
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
62
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
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
74
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Jellyfish
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Son of Rambow
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
Girls Rock!
60
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
59
Under the Same Moon
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Fugitive Pieces
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
52
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
49
Noise
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
44
Previous Engagement, A
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Up At The Villa
USA Films / October Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic elements
Starring
Kristin Scott Thomas,
Sean Penn,
and
Anne Bancroft
Adapted from a Somerset Maugham novella, the film is set in a 1938 Florence provincial town struggling to maintain its equilibrium as Mussolini's Fascists are consolidating their power.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Belinda Haas
W. Somerset Maugham (story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Philip Haas
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 24, 2000
Video: October 24, 2000
Theatrical: May 5, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
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...
100
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The story has old-fashioned characters and situations, and Haas has sensibly filmed it in an old-fashioned way, stressing visual appeal rather than the story's sordid undertones. The acting is excellent, too.

75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Is a chamber romance, in that there's nothing grand or sweeping about it, but it's got all the style it needs to go with those glorious Tuscan settings.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
All of Haas' movies have an air of weirdness and dread, and this one is no exception. But it's romantic as well.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's a corker of a story - a polished yarn full of desire, desperation and despair.

75
Miami Herald
Phoebe Flowers
A refined, tasteful film about pure, hard lust.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
This whole movie is about manners. There is sex and violence, but the movie is not about giving in to them; it's about carrying on as if they didn't exist.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
In the most extreme moments, Thomas hits her career pinnacle.

70
Variety
Derek Elley
This least affected of their (Haases) movies is also the most dramatically and emotionally convincing.

70
Film.com
Robert Horton
Scott Thomas and Penn finally develop a bit of unlikely chemistry, aided by the Hitchcockian atmosphere. I found myself rooting for these foolish, pampered, naïve people, and rooting for the movie as well.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
A charmingly mounted, period romantic drama that benefits from the performances of a fine ensemble cast and the lovely location settings of Florence and Tuscany.

67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It has some wonderful moments and a handful of delicious Maughamian characters.

63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It's low-grade Casablanca - an ill-fated love affair, rife with murder and deceit, with World War II as a backdrop and a farewell scene that has something to do with getting to Paris.

60
Film.com
Tom Keogh
If you're paying close attention, there is reason enough to find Up at the Villa a fascinating experience, almost an experiment in some ways, but it's not a fully realized work of cinema.

60
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Moderately pleasing adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novella.

60
Salon.com
Michael Sragow
Despite the prestigious talents involved, this is strictly "Minor Piece Theatre."

60
LA Weekly
Ron Stringer
Impressive supporting cast---, in character parts both expanded and invented, enrich the enterprise.

60
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
The Haases, whose previous films ("Angels and Insects," "The Music of Chance") evinced a remote, unfussy sensibility, are a poor fit for the melodramatic contortions that the story demands.

60
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
Despite his natty wardrobe and calculated sangfroid, Penn doesn't summon up quite the right image.

60
Film.com
John Hartl
Somewhere around the beginning of Hour Two, the narrative loses momentum, and Pino Donaggio's molasses-thick score begins to drag everything down with it. The ending also lacks the surprise twist that seems to be promised .

50
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
For all its handsome decor, tasteful restraint and old-fashioned look-and-feel, is a stiff, lacking tension, sizzle, drama, energy, appeal and, finally, purpose.

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
There are a few interesting moments, but basically Up at the Villa is dangerously short of sympathetic characters.

50
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
It's fun to see Sean Penn portray a playboy, like Bogart in "Casablanca," who hides his true heart behind a layer of cynicism.
50
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
It reminds us that Italy is beautiful, that Fascism was a dreadful nuisance and that Sean Penn is a great actor, deserving of better vehicles than this vintage lemon.

50
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The characters are so conventional that the movie has nowhere interesting to go, even when a corpse complicates affairs.

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The surprise is how tame and passionless it all seems, particularly after director Philip Haas's fevered "Angels and Insects."

50
USA Today
Mike Clark
For novelty value, you can do worse than seeing Sean Penn in a rare chance to don evening-wear on screen, but this isn't a sight to sustain a two-hour haul.

50
Baltimore Sun
Ann Hornaday
Genteel but ultimately unnecessary entertainment.

42
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Politics is almost an afterthought in this balky, attenuated film.

40
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
The plot is more convenient than intriguing, the characters more cartoonish than iconic--especially the heroine, who grapples with feminism in a way that should have been fascinating.

40
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
The melodrama of the Maugham original is too simplistic to involve, and the places the film's plot goes are so obvious that even the presence of quality actors can't create sufficient interest.

35
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
The total lack of sexual chemistry between them doesn't help. Frankly, I'd rather see Scott Thomas play a nun than sit through another one of these turgid romancers.


The average user rating for this movie is 2.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this movie in our forums |