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White Oleander
User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16

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  1. Caitlin
    Oct 17, 2002
    5
    Flashy, but at the same time a little empty. They attempted to make up for lack of plot with vivid in depth characters. So well it almost feels like you've known the characters for years. It's just a shame they don't do much. They should have gona back farther in the beginning of the movie, showing some past with mother and daughter in order to help us understand their unique connection. And given more information on the man she killed and their realationship. We don't even know how she killed him. The book is far better.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. NicoleM.
    Sep 21, 2007
    10
    I thought the book and movie was the best that I have ever seen in a long time.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. RonR.
    Oct 12, 2002
    1
    A dark, plodding and predictable drama populated with bitter cynics and religious hypocrites. The movie tries desperately in the end to find some redeeming good in the main characters, but by then it's too late.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. PorcheB.
    Oct 13, 2002
    4
    Mentally unstimulating, at times you cared fot the characters, but at others, you are hoping for,pehaps, Jean Claude Van-Damme to show up and add a little action and intensity to the film.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. RobertH.
    Oct 14, 2002
    8
    White Oleander is one of the toughest movies to rate. I easily could have given it a 2 instead of an 8, but that would not be fair. Justice, in the form of the Dept. of Social Services in LA doing what is right was what disturbed me the most. This is a powerful, but terribly depressing film that I would never watch again. The only other in this category was Saving Private Ryan. As for the acting, Michelle Pfeiffer gave a totally riveting performance as the Mother from Hell who was just born to be bad. As good as her performance was, Allison Lohman as her daughter steals the show as her daughter Astrid. You watch in horror as this innocent talented artistic caring child is turned into a hardened street-wise individual just to survive. That my friends is the difficult part of watching this film. … Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. MichaelR.
    Oct 23, 2002
    8
    Even though the movie is a bit episodic, it is held together by some great performances, especially Renee Zellweger's.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. StacyG.
    Nov 5, 2003
    10
    I personally loved the movie. i plan to use it for my piece for forensics.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. KiirstenM.
    Oct 12, 2002
    9
    It very vivid. A good sit down and watch movie. It easy to pine for the characters, and its easy to hate them as well.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. SheriA.
    Oct 19, 2002
    8
    The movie lacks the emotional punch of the book, and that is both good and bad. Good because the movie isn't as depressing as the book; bad because it just didn't fully capture the pain of all the characters from the book. The powerful acting by all the female leads (esp. Pfeiffer and Lohman) elevates a movie that would have otherwise been a 5 or 6 to an 8.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. AshleyT.
    Nov 2, 2004
    10
    Good, descriptive book. Thourough understanding of white oleander connection to astrid and then to Ingrid needed for complete understandment.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. KatieP.
    Jan 21, 2004
    10
    Fantastic.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. jamiemeghan
    Sep 6, 2011
    9
    White Oleander is an emotional-heartwreck coming of age story written by Janet Fitch and published in May of 1999. This fictional novel tells of Astrid Magnussen, beginning in early childhood. Astrid is living with her feminist, poet of a mother in Southern California--prey to the blistery, dry-warm wind of the Santa Anas. “Never let a man spend the night,” Ingrid tells her young daughter. “Dawn has a way of casting a pall on any night magic,” she warns and Astrid listens, eager to absorb the beautiful words of the woman she holds in such high regards. Astrid delights herself with the idea that soon she will grow up and be strong and powerful as her mother before her has “always” been. Ingrid defies herself as she breaks her own rules when she falls for a Mister Berry Kolker and in-turn feels the pain of her own manipulations backfire. Mister Berry Kolker is a flat character who mirrors Ingrid’s rigid lust and emotional detachment, coated with romantics and disregard for anyone else’s rules. When Berry asks Ingrid to leave after making love to her because he has another woman coming over, Ingrid is infuriated in a more than personal way. Ingrid takes Astrid to Mexico, not on a family vacation but rather to buy Dimethyl sulfoxide, (DMSO); in her conniption, Ingrid uses the DMSO to heighten the toxicity of the California-native White Oleander and bring her unfaithful lover to a venomous demise. Astrid’s life is thrown up in the air as her mother in sentenced to life in prison for murder. She becomes a child of the foster care system and is unable to settle because she is under constant fire from her unfortunate foster parents and families. She changes foster homes multiple times throughout the story because she must be removed from those people whom are detrimental to her life. Astrid struggles not only to stay afloat but also to find herself and separate her personal ideas from those of the people she must stay with and those of her mother. Through much travail, Astrid develops herself around loneliness, stress, abuse, loss, sexuality, drugs and massive confusion. This is the kind of Story that truly shapes a character. Astrid undergoes more **** and struggles in her early years than most do throughout their lives. Growing up without her mom and without the stability that comes from “home”—which she also was deprived of, Astrid is a weeping willow, growing as an independent spirit. Fitch’s novel provokes one to feel a great deal of sympathy for its protagonist, even as Astrid’s strong narration avoids pleading for such kindness. As a young person in modern society, I see many of the difficulties portrayed in this story; yet, Fitch’s account is graphic and Astrid’s story is a tragically beautiful story revolving around the challenge of letting go and of finding one’s self in unlikely and unglamorous places—such as in the trash bags on streets, full of clothing and other sellable items. Fitch’s intelligent diction in her writing and within Astrid’s mind as the narrator allows the book to draw you inward toward the story. Her diction also provides the audience with an appreciation for Astrid’s cleverness and builds her as a very unique character. This novel is a gratifying read for anyone who has the itch for a compelling and intellectual read and for anyone who has the desire to open their mind to a brilliant author—Janet Fitch. By Jamie Herrera… Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    67
    Impressively unflappable and natural, 23-year-old Lohman -- whose best known credit is perhaps a role on Fox's short-lived ''Pasadena'' -- holds the whole plot together skillfully.
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  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    What diminishes the film's impact is Mary Agnes Donoghue's schematic screenplay, which follows Astrid from home to home as unswervingly as a faithful pet.
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  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    While the film may drop a few of the novel's more disturbing moments, it still travels some emotionally rocky territory, and each of those actresses -- particularly Alison Lohman, who carries most of the movie on her young shoulders -- turns in a first-rate performance.
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