| 75 |
San Francisco Examiner
An edgy, hypnotic entertainment that's like a Club Med production of "Lord of the Flies."
|
| 75 |
New York Post
Cinematographer Darius Khonji does a superb job of conveying both the sensual beauty (there's a spectacular moonlight-on-the-water sex scene with Leo and the lovely Ledoyen), and the darkness of Richard's paradise lost.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
It's a movie to feel. Even when the thinking isn't all there, the emotions are, all the way to the film's poignant last seconds.
|
| 67 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It doesn't really come off, but it's an admirably ambitious, and mostly very engaging, coming-of-age adventure that apes the spirit of Joseph Conrad.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Whether he's smacking into an iceberg or flopping topless onto a sandy beach, DiCaprio is still maddeningly lightweight.
|
| 63 |
Miami Herald
Always a joy to look at -- and even if the story isn't half as profound as the filmmakers think it is.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
DiCaprio is up to all but the heaviest emotional lifting; when he enters a maniacal phase, you wish for Martin Sheen, who did the "back to the jungle" thing better in "Apocalypse Now."
|
| 60 |
Dallas Observer
The theme (social breakdown in isolation) is strong, but the plot meanders, and the motivations are decidedly hazy, so its popularity probably stems from its seamless blending of naive wonder and soul-mining horror.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
As a book, The Beach offers the option of diving deep. As a movie, it sticks too close to the shoreline.
|
| 50 |
Rolling Stone
Colorful and exciting, as far as it goes. But Boyle and Hodge pull back on their usual wit and grit.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Tries to take us from heaven to hell but winds up leaving us in limbo: exasperated and dumfounded.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
A seriously confused film that makes three or four passes at being a better one and doesn't complete any of them.
|
| 50 |
LA Weekly
An intermittently gripping, good-looking movie.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
Boyle's movie jettisons much of the telling detail; it has the shambling rhythm of a shaggy dog story and so simplifies the characters' ethical dilemmas that it's hard to care what they do.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
As (DiCaprio's) character heads for The Beach's predictable heart of darkness denouement, only die-hard fans will have the heart to tag along.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Visually resplendent but dramatically uneven.
|
| 50 |
New York Daily News
There's only so much meaningful interplay you can get out of a beachful of slackers and some tanning oil.
|
| 50 |
Portland Oregonian
It's not that The Beach is a stinker, exactly. It's that nothing in it -- and that includes the gifted DiCaprio -- ever feels other than perfunctory.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
Terrific looking in the extreme, The Beach is the movie equivalent of vacation reading: no more demanding -- and no less satisfying -- than a sandy paperback left on a damp towel.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
The story is less original than its setting - it knocks off everything from "Lord of the Flies" to "The Blair Witch Project" -and its unromantic moods may make DiCaprio's countless "Titanic" fans want to swim in the opposite direction.
|
| 45 |
TNT RoughCut
The titular beach really is stunning. But the second hour is an incomprehensible mess that's too dark for Leo's Teen People fanbase and too convenient for the arthouse crowd.
|
| 40 |
Newsweek
Gorgeous but curiously weightless.
|
| 40 |
Film.com
The opening reels here promise something big, but the movie settles for a sour, predetermined funk -- "Lord of the Flies" as imagined by a Nintendo junkie.
|
| 40 |
The New York Times
Not a terrible movie, just an insubstantial one. All of DiCaprio's charisma and the director's savvy are used to divert us from the fact that there's not much going on.
|
| 40 |
Film.com
Obvious in its observations, predictable in its conclusions, and a little dull in the telling.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
It's hobbled by odd plot contrivances and some less-than-stellar acting from DiCaprio.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
A narrative that tries to juggle thriller elements, tons of pop culture imagery, and way too much philosophical baggage.
|
| 40 |
Salon.com
Boyle's Beach lacks imagination and energy, two things that might have distracted us, at least occasionally, from the material's tepidness.
|
| 38 |
Boston Globe
It's "Beach Blanket Bingo" revisited, but with a Eurocast and more exotic locations.
|
| 34 |
Mr. Showbiz
Richard T. Jameson
The movie is an experience, of a sort they had a name for in the '60s: bummer.
|
| 30 |
Village Voice
Barely a movie.
|
| 30 |
Slate
Monumentally unimaginative. Thumbs down!
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
Relentlessly beautiful and wholly annoying.
|
| 25 |
USA Today
Murky, pretentious and torturously inert.
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