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The Luzhin Defence
Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
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  1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    91
    I can't think of another movie that more fluently communicates the special agony and ecstasy of the game of chess.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    90
    Carefully made, involving and old-fashioned, the superior work it's inspired gives it an impact that lingers even when the endgame is over.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    90
    Moves with fluidity and ease through brisk opening conventions to a perfectly poised and balanced endgame.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    83
    Fine candy for mind and eye.
  5. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: F. X. Feeney
    80
    A smart, romantic, heartbreaking pleasure.
  6. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    80
    Where it succeeds best is not in describing how Luzhin got broken but how love fixed him, albeit temporarily.
  7. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    75
    You'll find heartbreakingly star-crossed lovers, a heartless villain (Wilson) and a dazzling backdrop of aristocratic life before and after the Russian Revolution.
  8. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    One of our best actors, Turturro surpasses his past fine work as Alexander Luzhin.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    75
    Watson's character grows in importance until she eclipses the recessive Luzhin.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    70
    The stage is set for a wonderful movie, and yet The Luzhin Defence, based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel The Defense, never courts greatness.
  11. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    70
    John Turturro, who, given the most romantic role of his career, fully inhabits the ungainly Luzhin.
  12. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    70
    Gorris has beefed up the role of Natalia (Watson), with the end result that the film's emphasis is appropriately divided between the two characters in an emotionally satisfying way.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Derek Elley
    70
    A smoothly made period romancer that's elevated by strong playing from its whole cast, led by John Turturro and Emily Watson as the starstruck lovers.
  14. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    The film is elegiac and sad, beautifully mounted, but not as compelling as it should be.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    Turturro's Luzhin is a cinematic soulmate of Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man and Geoffrey Rush's David Helfgott.
  16. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Desmond Ryan
    63
    Falls short of being totally absorbing and compelling.
    All this critic's reviews
  17. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    63
    Handsome and well-acted, yet it can't hold a pawn to Nabokov's harrowing and moving character study.
    All this critic's reviews
  18. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    60
    An attractive, intelligent film that's intractably at odds with itself.
    All this critic's reviews
  19. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    60
    In the end, it demonstrates all over again the virtual impossibility of doing Nabokov justice on film, because his work is so resolutely and brilliantly made of words.
  20. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    Fails to score a checkmate.
  21. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    50
    When the film sticks with the eccentric comedy of a highborn woman attracted to a preoccupied genius, it works splendidly. When it strays into melodrama, it is as ill-equipped as Luzhin.
  22. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    The film's dark heart is Valentinov's mephistophelean scheming: He sets about sabotaging his former protégé's game for no apparent reason except sheer malice.
  23. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    42
    Capable but not transporting, never unraveling the mystery of its hero's genius or, worse, making us care enough to look deeper.
  24. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    40
    A punishing tragedy that could best be described as the anti-"Shine."
  25. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    40
    It's one of those period dramas about upper-crust Europeans in vacation resorts, which at first we think we've seen a million times before.
  26. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    40
    Might be for you. Or you might be bored anyway.
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