New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
xx Baby on Board
xx Bob Funk
62 Cherry Blossoms
38 Confessions of a Shopaholic
38 Crossing Over
38 Dark Streets
58 Defiance
45 Fanboys
31 Fired Up
37 Forever Strong
34 Friday the 13th
72 Gran Torino
47 He's Just Not That Into You
47 Inkheart
52 International, The
45 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
50 Madea Goes to Jail
51 Morning Light
51 My Bloody Valentine 3-D
29 New in Town
28 Nobel Son
40 Outlander
39 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
56 Phoebe in Wonderland
36 Pink Panther 2
xx Powder Blue
69 Revolutionary Road
20 Spinning Into Butter
17 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63 Tokyo!
74 Two Lovers
56 Valkyrie
91 Waltz with Bashir
22 What Goes Up

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Cell, The
New Line Cinema


6.7

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

The Fall

MPAA RATING: R for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity and language

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, and Vincent D'Onofrio

A child therapist enters the mind of a comatose serial killer in the hopes of saving his latest victim.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Mark Protosevich
DIRECTED BY:	Tarsem Singh
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 19, 2000 Video: December 19, 2000 Theatrical: August 18, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's one of the best films of the year.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Something of an unforgettable experience.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Disturbing, visually stunning thriller.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Tarsem uses the dramatically shallow plot to create a dream world densely packed with images of beauty and terror that cling to the memory even if you don't want them to.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Many of the film's images will prove more than some viewers can take.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Has its effectively nasty, chilling moments -- and it also brings body piercing to new heights of ickiness.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The Cell is eye candy - but it could give your brain a bad case of indigestion.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Impresses more than it entertains.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Repetitive, aimless, and as frustrating as you'd imagine any two-hour music video to be.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The costumes are phenomenal, the set design ravishing and the sadistic inventiveness extraordinary.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Not nearly the mindfuck it wants to be.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The Cell is foremost about singular imagery, a succession of still pictures strung together frame by frame.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Visually impressive but exceedingly unpleasant little nail-biter.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The action is as grisly as it is surrealistic.

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

A must-see movie, simply for its awe-inspiring production values, but you'll feel nothing but punished by Tarsem's ghoulish parade of images.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Generic variation on the overworked serial-killer genre.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A high-tech freak show, a gallery of grotesqueries that are fascinating and repellent.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mr. Singh may have an artist's temperament, and he shows signs of being a director

Film.com Ernest Hardy

What makes The Cell worth viewing at all is the carefully sculpted imagery.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Riveting in its low way. It traffics in imagery profoundly disturbing.

USA Today Mike Clark

There's so little action or suspense that this Cell isn't too likely to multiply itself into a sequel.

Film.com Gemma Files

Visually stunning but emotionally shallow.

Variety Emanuel Levy

A slender story that's not particularly suspenseful or involving, resulting in a movie that's a feast to the eye but not much for the intellect.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Jennifer Lopez's butt? Alas, the moment is over all too soon; the movie, sadly, is not.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a pleasure to watch, but I found myself wondering if having a story here even mattered to the director at all.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

It's mesmerizing nonetheless for its flagrant disregard for narrative, character, pacing, performance and good lighting.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Almost no plot here and even less character--just a lot of pretexts for S-M imagery, Catholic decor, gobs of gore, and the usual designer schizophrenia.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

If The Cell were six minutes long it would blow your mind. At two hours, it's a disordered muddle of hellacious highs and pedestrian lows.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Disappointing only because its best moments are transcendent; its worst moments, sadly, are just so ordinary.

Slate David Edelstein

Serves up some of the most gruesomely misogynistic imagery in years, then ends with a bid for understanding. Are its makers so deluded that they think they're making the world a more compassionate place?

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Some movies make you sorry you've seen them, and The Cell is one of those. Creepy and horrific, it's a torture chamber film.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Any way you slice it, it is still pointless.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

marshall m. gave it a10:
Wonderfully bizarre! masterpeice! the best psychological thriller since "silence of the lambs"!

Ben gave it a 9:
I love it! I've seen it three times, and J. Lo is so preety!

Uter gave it a 6:
It's really cool at times, but at others, it's boring or stupid. The dream sequences are nicely done for the most part. Except for 1 where Jen Lopez falling is obviously some stuntMAN with a bad wig on - really bad. I had the dvd but decided to sell it because I had no desire to watch again.

Alex gave it a 10:
Yes this movie is really disturbing and it takes a strong mind(and stomach) to handle the imagery.

Desutch Andre gave it a 7:
I totally agree with Anonymous.

[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Für mich ist "The Cell" ein sehr eindrucks stker Film. Es kann sein das manche Leute dies nich erkennen , dies liegt aber daran das sie vermutlich nicht mit der tiefe und mit vollem ewustsin den Film angeschaut haben . Vielleicht ist er auch für manche zu "unblutig" das muss aber ein Horrorfilm gar nicht sein. Es kommt darauf an was der Film einem sagen möchte. Hat sich schon einmal jemand gefragt warum man ihr Gesicht beim herrunterstürtzen nicht sieht?

Sundy Y. gave it a 9:
I was quite impressed with the movie. I even couldn't stopping thinking about it when I was lying on my bed that night. It's really amazing!!!!

Cell, The New Line Cinema

Cell, The
New Line Cinema