Savage Grace
User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 4 out of 11

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  1. juderobe
    Oct 18, 2010
    2
    Who said that evil is banal? Banality is the problem with this film which is technically well-made and cast with mesmerizing actors--especially the young ones; the son and the girlfriend and the son's lover. What motivates
    the mother? Why is her behavior so far off balance? Julianne Moore may have done better with a more filled out characterization. When the film began I immediately thoug    ht of a far more effective characterization of a borderline personality--Nancy in the film, "Sid and Nancy." And the film seriously underplays what has happened to the son--until the devasting finale. The real son, who this character was based on, in life, showed extreme behavioral signals, not just the enuie and lassitude we see here.… Expand
  2. DavidM
    Jul 3, 2008
    1
    Some of the scenes feature brilliant acting and the film has great visual and aural appeal, but I never felt emotionally invested in any of the characters - I felt like the director was more interested in flirting with alienating the audience with his characters' flaws and indecency than in weaving meaning into the story.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 28
  3. Negative: 4 out of 28
  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Jamie Tipps
    40
    To be sure, it's a very pretty, well acted production; however, that doesn't make up for the fact that I hated every minute of it.
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  2. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Bernard Besserglik
    70
    U.S. viewers may be put off by its tangled sexual motifs and find its implied social critique a little close to the bone. But even Stateside, Julianne Moore, in her most challenging role in years, will win plaudits and attract mature audiences to a thoroughly absorbing and polished piece of work.
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  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Jay Weissberg
    50
    Scripter Howard A. Rodman's treatment of an enthralling book is more a series of vignettes rather than a fully connected work, and helmer Tom Kalin seems unable to decide how much Sirkian melodrama to introduce into the heady mix. Gone are the reasons to be fascinated with these people, merely replaced with maddeningly over-arch dialogue and struggles with characterization.
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