Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Dedication
Metascore
50 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 19
  3. Negative: 5 out of 19
view
per page
  1. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Joshua Katzman
    80
    Actor Justin Theroux makes an impressive directorial debut, aided by David Bromberg's mordantly funny dialogue.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    75
    A pleasingly weird, dryly funny little indie.
  3. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    75
    Dedication works anyway, thanks to Theroux's jumping visuals and Crudup's jumpy performance.
  4. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Zack Haddad
    70
    This is a decent flick, it is just I have seen this a few times before.
  5. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    67
    Dedication would've been better if it had stuck to its disreputable guns instead of going all mushy and predictable, and slathering an emo soundtrack over everything.
  6. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Gianni Truzzi
    67
    To director Justin Theroux's credit, he differentiates his film with a dusky visual style that reflects Henry's murky interior. He uses the grit of his Manhattan locations to give outward expression to Henry's volatile, selfish and terrified state of mind.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    67
    Crudup delivers a bracing, uncompromising performance, but it's unmistakably a solo turn in a romantic comedy that's supposed to be about the blurring of egos and the fusing of two idiosyncratic voices into a single harmonious duet.
  8. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    60
    Directorially, Dedication is a bit of a mess, unable to settle on a tone or visual style. But it leaves you wishing the oddball couple well.
  9. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    The movie is a first-time directorial effort by Justin Theroux, a splendid actor, son of the writer Phyllis, nephew of the novelist Paul. He might have done better to have taken on something by them.
  10. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Sid Smith
    50
    Frame by frame, Crudup is fascinating.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    50
    In the end, all the bitterness seems like window-dressing to disguise a trite story.
  12. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    A strong cast that flounders in profoundly unappealing material.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    50
    A movie that reveals its toxic intentions only gradually. Until it does, there is much to enjoy in the prickly odd-couple relationship of Henry (Billy Crudup) and Rudy (Tom Wilkinson), successful writing partners and longtime friends.
  14. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    50
    Individual scenes in actor Justin Theroux's directorial debut possess a certain flair, but the central issue on which the story turns -- how obnoxious and mean-spirited can you be and still get someone to love you? -- presents a forbidding obstacle.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    38
    It's a romantic comedy, though neither funny nor romantic. It's a ghost story, though not scary. It's a satire about publishing, but without teeth.
  16. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    38
    Unlike most of what Moore has been in, Dedication is unlikely to delight retirement homes on movie night. But it's not imaginative, lively, or true enough to speak to its intended audience of American Apparel shoppers, either. It's a slog.
  17. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    30
    "Inland Empire's" Justin Theroux pops his directorial cherry with this obnoxious Sundance throwaway, a by-the-numbers romantic comedy that mistakenly believes it's either too quirky or too irreverent to be a by-the-numbers romantic comedy.
  18. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joanne Kaufman
    30
    Tiresome, pretentious.
  19. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    30
    Theroux and company could be said to be "Garden State"-ing, or trying to. Instead of that film's sheen of the touchingly weird, Dedication finds a whole lot of the coldly dumb.
prev next
Page:
  • 1

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. ChadS.
    7
    When South African novelist Doris Lessing("The Golden Notebook") won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, Erica Jong, author of "The Fear of Flying", wrote that "they could have given it to Philip Roth for paeans to his penis," which brings us to "Dedication". Henry Roth(Billy Crudup) is celibate(when he's not careful, he leaves a human stain). He writes children's "literature". Lucy Reilly(Mandy Moore), an illustrator by default, entered the profession after she outlived her usefulness as a self-important thesis adviser's muse. Reilly shares the same surname as Valerie Martin, the author of "Mary Reilly"; the lesser Reilly, a PhD candidate for English literature, wanted to distance herself("as far as possible," she tells Henry) from the world of important books. Another name with literary allusions, another inside joke, "Dedication" is funnier than you think. In children's literature, the target demographic tends to be more scrutinizing about pictures than words. Henry is disposable. His maladjusted persona seems better fitted for a man who writes real literature. All that neuroses is wasted on a beaver named Bucky. Henry's machismo and hubris seems disproportionate to his literary talent. "Dedication" is "Pollock" of a lesser god. For sure, he's Roth of a lesser god. Lucy, formally trained in uncovering meaning behind objects, will have no problems figuring out the root of beaver.… Full Review »
  2. JayH.
    5
    This movie is slow as molasses. The performances are appealing and the cinematography is attractively done, nice score and editing, but the writing was uninspiring and tedious.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »