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World Traveler

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World Traveler reviews
39
5.5 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Bart Freundlich

Directed by: Bart Freundlich

Release Date:
Theatrical: April 19, 2002
DVD: January 21, 2003

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada / USA

Summary

RATING: R for language and some sexuality

Starring Billy Crudup, Julianne Moore, Cleavant Derricks, David Keith, James LeGros, Karen Allen, Mary McCormack, and Liane Balaban

This contemporary road movie tells the story of a restless, thirty-something New Yorker (Crudup) who, one day, simply drives off, leaving his wife, baby and home behind.

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...

70

Variety Lisa Nesselson

Although occasionally both overwritten and overly symbolic, tale carries a satisfying emotional charge.

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70

Film Threat Ron Wells

World Traveler did seem completely aimless for the first third. However, once I comprehended where Freundlich was going with this, I began to really enjoy where the film was taking me.

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60

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

Crudup takes a riskier path: his architect isn't very nice and is possibly irredeemable. His performance is subtle, complicated, and fresh, and it's a shame the movie doesn't live up to it.

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60

Washington Post Dan Via

Well-made, well-acted but ultimately enervating, this is a respectable effort from Freundlich.

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50

Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not Credited)

Crudup is the best navigator a road movie like World Traveler can have, but even he can't single-handedly transport these goods from nowhere to somewhere.

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50

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A small story, a monodrama with a hero but no antagonists.

50

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

The gorgeous Crudup is talented, but this charming asshole (more asshole than charming) is old hat for him, little more than another of the blank-eyed-loser-on-a-spiritual-quest roles in which he's been trafficking lately.

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50

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The Crudup of "Almost Famous" was both hairier and more appealing than the tortured womanizer of World Traveler. Couldn't Cal have just stayed home, grown a mustache, and called his dad on the phone? [22 & 29 April 2002, p. 209]

50

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Iridescent as each of the actors is, the result is like a handful of beads without the connecting string.

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50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

As beautiful to look at and as emotionally disconnected as its central character.

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50

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The film is perhaps best enjoyed as a minor work with some major pluses, notably in the characterizations and in their adroit portrayals.

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50

Boston Globe Beth Pinsker

The real seduction Crudup pulls off is that he makes it seem possible that the character hasn't actually done all of these awful things.

50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There are moments of sudden truth in the film; Freundlich, who also made "The Myth of Fingerprints" (1997), about an almost heroically depressed family at Thanksgiving, can create and write characters, even if he doesn't always know where to take them.

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42

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Limps shallowly along.

40

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

Loses significant points for its lazy story and complacent delivery.

40

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

The movie's single brilliant invention -- Julianne Moore as a used, contentious, profoundly odd floozy on her own magical mystery tour.

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40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

A hopelessly stolid and distant evocation of Bob Rafelson's "Five Easy Pieces."

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40

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Neither the screenplay nor the film's visual vocabulary begins to evoke a charged spiritual tension between the protagonist and the world.

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40

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Freundlich's postmodern road movie contains several sharply observed scenes but doesn't really add up to much.

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38

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Crudup is about as effective as anyone could be in the dreary World Traveler, but he can't keep this shallow, pretentious film from wallowing in banality and staggering self-indulgence.

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38

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A huge disappointment -- the kind of motion picture that makes you actively angry at the filmmaker for subjecting you to it and stealing two hours of your life.

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38

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Amidst the ennui, there are some fine performances.

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38

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Crudup gives it his best, but his character is so economically drawn, there's hardly anything there -- certainly nothing likable.

25

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Dreary movie.

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20

Salon.com Charles Taylor

It's hard to remember a movie that has asked us to care, without giving us reason to, about a character who is so thoroughly and relentlessly a prick.

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20

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Anemic, pretentious.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

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

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