Head in the Clouds
Metascore
40 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 27
  3. Negative: 7 out of 27
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  1. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    80
    On paper the story may seem hopelessly contrived -- another nostalgia piece for art-house liberals -- but on-screen it's presented in purely emotional terms, which allows Duigan and his excellent leads to inhabit and ultimately transcend the period.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Charlize Theron is one of the few actresses equal to the role, bringing to it beauty, steel-edged repose, and mystery.
  3. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    70
    The lavish drama spans England, France, and Spain (shot mostly in Montreal), and Duigan elegantly paints a moving romance of errors amid torture, bloodshed, and terrible tragedy.
  4. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    50
    Unconvincing melodrama.
  5. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    50
    Townsend seemed to me ill-matched as a romantic hero: way too moony-eyed and mushy to cope with the likes of the towering Theron and torchy Cruz.
  6. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    50
    You might not think it would be easy to make a dull film about love, war and a bisexual threesome, but Head in the Clouds manages this task efficiently.
  7. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    50
    Charlize Theron's Gilda in Head in the Clouds invites comparison to Rita Hayworth in 1946's "Gilda," which adds a touch of the ludicrous to this already strained material set in wartime France.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    50
    An overlong melodrama-by-numbers.
  9. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    50
    Catastrophically overdone.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    50
    A glossy, stiff melodrama.
  11. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    50
    It's fun, but it isn't believable for a minute.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    50
    Lacks freshness and vitality.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    50
    A lively, plush but unconvincing potboiler cobbled from familiar pieces of better films (and TV miniseries).
  14. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    42
    Armed with a cliche-ridden script and a gaggle of unconvincing performers, the result comes off more like an Ernest Hemingway letter to the Penthouse Forum than a revival of Hollywood magic.
  15. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    42
    An exceedingly dull retro-weepie.
  16. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    40
    The film is a stodgy snooze, and Theron, who is about as expressive here as a porcelain doll, lacks all believability--she's followed her best performance (in Monster) with her worst.
  17. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    40
    The film feels more at home with sex than war, like a romance novel where the swinging lovers find their passions stirred by bombs exploding in the distance. Their three-way dalliances are so frivolous and silly that once the action turns dark, Duigan and his cast leave audiences unprepared for the emotional fallout.
  18. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    40
    This pulpy, sex-drenched wartime epic seems frivolous, quaint and foolishly prurient.
  19. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    40
    A paint-by-numbers old-fashioned romantic epic, Head in the Clouds is neither romantic nor epic, but it does succeed at old-fashioned.
  20. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Teresa Wiltz
    40
    The plot contrivances are telegraphed too loudly; the emotional manipulation too obvious.
  21. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    If you're up for a relentlessly overripe melodrama that takes place in movie-Europe as opposed to the real thing (the Parisian streetwalkers in berets are a good tip-off), by all means catch Head in the Clouds.
  22. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    38
    The story is a vapid "Casablanca"-lite.
  23. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    33
    Stuart Townsend, Theron's reallife boyfriend, may have inner fires as an actor that have yet to be revealed, but in Head in the Clouds he's a somber puppy who looks as if Theron could eat him alive. I wish she had.
  24. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    30
    There's never a dull moment and seldom one that isn't sublimely ridiculous.
  25. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    30
    Duigan has the makings of a good yarn, but instead of trusting the story and his characters, he becomes fatally bogged down in trying to make statements.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    A snooze, despite all the sex and other gunplay.
  27. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    25
    This spark-free film has no place to go on their resumes except under the heading of "Cringing Embarrassment."

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. StephenM.
    10
    Theron's character is a terrific anti-hero who pursues the pleasure principle throughout life with single-minded determination--arguably an uncondemnable thing. Unfortunately for her, that quest for pleasure has her traipsing around war-torn France with her "head in the clouds," largely oblivious to the life-threatening environment in which she resides while on her quest for erotic pleasure. All anti-heros must eventually depart the incompatible society in which they live and they must do so either by dying or otherwise escaping that society. In this case, France's post-war society is vengeful, misguided, judgmental, and unforgiving. Her death is a great tragedy. Quilt by association has always been difficult, if not impossible, for society justify and her case is no exception. Arguably, she does not deserve to suffer her fate. The story could have been written to avoid tragedy and have a happy ending if she had been wise enough to flee France for America, where free spirits can grow and flourish, but she didn't because her head was in the clouds and that flaw didn't serve her best interests. The film's critics never mention any of this and that leaves me wondering if they truly understood (let alone appreciate) her character and the story of a great, arguably blameless, anti-hero.… Full Review »
  2. BubbaJ.
    9
    Epic saga of love and war and the culminating in the occupation and liberation of Paris.
  3. EricS.
    10
    Profoundly moving and disturbing movie. Theron superb as femme fatale. Excellent acting all around. Drama intense.
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