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Limey, The
Artisan Entertainment


7.7

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

based on 9 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for violence & language

Starring Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro, Nicky Katt, Peter Fonda, and William Lucking

Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh's latest film follows the exploits of Wilson (Stamp), a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. (Artisan Entertainment)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Lem Dobbs
DIRECTED BY:	Steven Soderbergh
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 21, 2000 Video: March 21, 2000 Theatrical: October 8, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	90 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

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A small cubist masterpiece about crime and punishment set in that most split-level of environments, Los Angeles.

100

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Makes a term like neo-noir seem like a fatuous catch phrase.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A near-perfect movie.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

A first-rate crime thriller and further proof that Soderbergh is one of our great contemporary film stylists.

Film.com Tom Keogh

One of the best films seen in many years about the mysterious workings of time and memory.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The work of a fine craftsman and artist.

USA Today Mike Clark

One of those movies in which pacing, dialogue and the right actors enliven a familiar story.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

The pleasure of The Limey lies in watching what actors who have aged like fine wine can do in that world.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Stamp, whose ability to make Wilson simultaneously coarse and charismatic is irresistibly entertaining.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Intoxicatingly well-crafted entertainment about hunting down your enemy.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

More involving and intriguing than any by-the-numbers studio thriller. In large part, it holds our interest because of its stylistic boldness, not despite it.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

An art noir that courts pretension but just manages to keep from succumbing to it.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A mesmerizing mood piece.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A solid genre film that offers the satisfactions of the familiar while deriving its resonance through its specific and telling references to the '60s.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Style is the main attraction in The Limey -- it's as close to experimental filmmaking as mainstream movies get -- but the film works well when taken simply as a pure revenge drama, too.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It's clever, cool fun and it looks great.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The violent story is standard "film noir" fare, but Soderbergh treats it with oomph and imagination.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

A wonderfully complex character at the center of a gratifyingly satisfying yarn.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

In its quiet and murderous way, it is like the delayed final act of an old movie about drugs, guns and revenge.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

Among Soderbergh's widely varied films ("sex, lies and videotape," "Kafka," "The Underneath," "Schizopolis," "Out of Sight"), this one actually has the best chance of becoming anyone's sentimental favorite.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Tender souls who don't like a lot of noise and violence should probably stay away from this very in-your-face film.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

(Stamp and Fonda's) polar-opposition in acting styles and temperament, their cultural differences and their pop-cultural synergy come together with almost delicious cacophony.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This intelligent, oddly aloof thriller is a worthy follow-up to director Steven Soderberg's "Out of Sight."

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

A highly enjoyable and offbeat thriller.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

It's such an accomplished, beguiling film in its details that you almost don't notice that the story is scattershot, arbitrary, and thin -- almost.

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

Soderbergh, like Tarantino, has a knack for making every shady character onscreen fascinating.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Can't outrun its very visible limits.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A jaggedly impressionistic reverie.

Variety Emanuel Levy

One has no problem praising the bravura acting of the entire ensemble.

Film.com John Hartl

Perhaps you have to have lived through the 1960s to relate.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A disappointed meditation on the '60s.

Time Richard Corliss

Soderbergh slices, dices and Cuisinarts the script into flashbacks, scene shifts, stop motion and other distracting foolery.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Clayton L. gave it a4:
Terrible. Another gangster movie with unconvincing actors.

Joel W. gave it a10:
On the surface [and in the trailer] The Limey appears to be a cold blooded hard-knock revenge movie. It is something very different. This emotive slow burning thriller is full of wonderful understated acting, appropriately disconcerting music, great dialogue and fantastic editing. This last element adds a lot of richness to the story and made me ask 'Is this all a flash-back or flash-forward?'. There's room to think in this film. We watch Wilson remember and regret. The use of footage from an old Stamp movie which really shouldn't work, does. The film promises more blood-and-guts than it delivers and it is this restraint, along with the dry humor and narrative balance which make this one of my favorite films.

Rich R. gave it a10:
One of the best movies I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot more than you have! Great acting, insane editing, fantastic dialog, great story of revenge, wonderful West Coast/LA footage, who couldn't like this? Anyone who thinks it's slow and boring isn't watching, or perhaps noticing, the subtle stuff, the stuff that pulls this movie over the line of reality/fantasy and back., again and again.

Evening Sun gave it a 1:
Pointless, distracting and astonishingly bad, The Limey is easily one of the least involving thrillers I have ever seen. Although I've never been a real fan of Soderbergh's work, even the extremely self-indulgent Solaris seems earthbound and involving compared to this. This thriller is almost as tepid (wait, make that frigid) as Stamp's lead performance.

Michael F. gave it a 9:
One of my favorites! Although this film is a bit slow it pays off so much! All of the acting is great! Soderbergh is a genious! Lem Dobbs (writer) is one of the greatest writers working today ("The Score," "Dark City")! This is worth a look if you have the control to sit through this film. It's only 89 minutes long.

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Limey, The Artisan Entertainment

Limey, The
Artisan Entertainment