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97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
93
WALL-E
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Paranoid Park
80
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
73
Kung Fu Panda
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Priceless
72
Transsiberian
71
To the Limit
71
Tropic Thunder
70
Standard Operating Procedure
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
63
Planet B-Boy
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
63
This Christmas
62
Mister Foe
61
Stuck
61
On the Rumba River
61
Incredible Hulk, The
57
Stone Angel, The
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
55
Sukiyaki Western Django
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
54
What We Do Is Secret
53
Mister Lonely
52
Milarepa
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
48
Death Defying Acts
47
Strangers, The
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Henry Poole is Here
39
Young People F**king
37
War, Inc.
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
34
Happening, The
33
Elite Squad
32
Perfect Holiday, The
25
Hell Ride
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
xx
Whaledreamers
xx
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips
xx
Kiss the Bride
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Beer for My Horses
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
8 Women
Focus Features / USA Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for some sexual content
Starring
Danielle Darrieux,
Catherine Deneuve,
Isabelle Huppert,
Emmanuelle Béart,
Fanny Ardant,
Virginie Ledoyen,
Ludivine Sagnier,
and
Firmine Richard and Dominique Lamure
When a wealthy French family gathers for Christmas, their country estate is thrown into an uproar when the father of the family is murdered. The only possible suspects are the eight women in the house, each of whom has secrets and a motive to kill him.
| GENRE(S): |
Mystery
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
François Ozon
Marina de Van
Robert Thomas (play 8 femmes)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
François Ozon
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 11, 2003
Theatrical: September 20, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
113 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
French (with English subtitles) |
Original French title "8 femmes"; Winner, Silver Berlin Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement (awarded jointly to the 8 lead actresses), 2002 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Jonathan Curiel
So original, so funny, so alive with drama, intrigue, mystery and colors that you want to see it again and again.

100
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The secret to enjoying 8 Women is to check your analytical mind at the popcorn counter and settle back for almost two hours of cinematic mischief.

90
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
Really, really good -- Yes, it's over the top, giddy and parodistic (God bless it). But it also takes a thoughtful, if surreptitious, look at what eight women might act like when men aren't around.

88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
One of the most uplifting and delightful films to have come along this year.

83
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
If you simply love Vogue magazine, you'll love 8 Women just as much as the cinematically educated. This breezy entertainment often feels like an exquisitely photographed fashion layout come to life.
80
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Whatever you call this one-of-a-kind bonbon spiked with wit and malice, it's classic oo-la-la.

80
New Times (L.A.)
Gregory Weinkauf
It's pretty safe to say that claustrophobic, gay-themed murder mysteries haven't been this much fun since "Deathtrap."
80
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The dazzling star power of the French screen royalty Ozon has assembled and the film's sheer exuberance in its own artifice make this a delight from beginning to end.

80
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
In short, this film is not quite the frozen and brittle comedy that it appears to be, and, if you can stomach it the first time, you may experience a baffling wish to see it again -- to inspect this crystalline curiosity from another angle. [16 September 2002, p. 106]
80
Time
Richard Corliss
Seduction is more important than deduction in this chic display of star quality to the eighth power.

75
Chicago Tribune
Loren King
An ebullient toast to grande dames: part homage, part camp, all artifice and a thoroughly entertaining, if light, confection.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Paula Nechak
A frothy and deliriously enjoyable souffle.

75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Even if some of the references are inscrutable, a lot of 8 Women is a riot. Here and there Ozon finds the key to a level of farce that would have amused Bunuel himself.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
May not plumb the depths of the female psyche, but it's stylish and frivolous in the most profound ways.

75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
The result is weightless entertainment that's both camp and true, a warped adoration of star-quality actresses as amazing creatures who can project the lives of fictional characters as well as the essence of their own fabulous selves.

75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
The movie doesn't remind me so much of the movies of Minnelli or Sirk as it does a lavish parody of "Upstairs, Downstairs," with musical interludes (the divas sing, whether they can or not) that are often as painful to watch as they are audaciously performed.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Movies like 8 Women are essentially made for movie-lovers. You have to have seen overdecorated studio musicals, and you have to know who Darrieux and Deneuve and Beart and Huppert and Ardant are, to get the full flavor. It also helps if you have seen Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap."

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Intoxicates and overwhelms at the same time, giving off so much pleasure in a small space that the effect can be suffocating.

70
Variety
Lisa Nesselson
For all its careful plotting, some viewers may find the exercise ultimately hollow and nasty, but thesps make the experience completely worthwhile.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
The cast is the main attraction in Francois Ozon's witty, even touching 8 Women.
70
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
A gorgeous, if disjointed, spectacle, made endurable if not entirely comprehensible by its eye-popping cast.

70
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Indefensible, cynical, even grotesque; it is also pure -- that is to say innocent and uncorrupted -- fun.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Proves to be a pleasant romp. Girls just wanna have fun -- even onscreen.
60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Imagine the John Waters remake of an Agatha Christie mystery directed by Douglas Sirk, and you'll get some idea of the tone of this retro musical melodrama, which features a cast whose combined wattage could eclipse a small solar system.

50
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
Although it starts off vaguely amusing, 8 Women grows progressively sour, curdled by the filmmakers' bad faith and lack of compassion. It isn't just the tone that's off; it's the point.

50
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Without its cast -- the cream of France's female acting elite -- François Ozon's ambivalent musical-comedy homage to the 1950s wouldn't be much.

40
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
iIt sits on the screen in the flattest way imaginable, and the brightest colors in the world can't make up for all that's missing. 8 Women is perfumed kitsch, and it reeks.

38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
8 Women would probably be a looser, giddier salute to show-biz ideas of femininity if it were performed by eight drag queens.
25
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
The result is inept, tedious kitsch that even at its best feels like John Waters minus the joie de vivre.

10
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
For all the tumultuous entrances and flouncing exits, the eight principals manage maybe three laughs among them.


The average user rating for this movie is 5.2 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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