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Map of the World, A
EMAILPRINTFirst Look Pictures Releasing

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jane Hamilton (novel)
Peter Hedges
Polly Platt
Directed by: Scott Elliott
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 3, 1999
DVD: September 19, 2000
Running Time: 125 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for some sexuality and language
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, David Strathairn, Dara Perlmutter, Arliss Howard, Kayla Perlmutter, Deborah Lobban, and Chloƫ Sevigny
A woman (Weaver) lives with her husband and two daughters on a dairy farm in a small Wisconsin community. After an accident on her property involving a friend's (Moore) child, the town turns against her.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Sigourney Weaver is so daring and amazing, her veracity is at times painful to behold.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
An accomplished film that continually takes us beyond our first impressions of people and situations.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is not tidy. Like its heroine, it doesn't follow the rules.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber
The two lead actresses are exquisite in their divergent ways.
Read Full Review >Film.com Ernest Hardy
It's provocative and very moving, filled with some of the strongest performances of the year.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Worth navigating for its refusal to play to the crowd. There's certainly nothing safe or sweet about Weaver's performance.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Russell Smith
One of the truest-seeming movies I've seen in some time and as one of the most odd and haunting.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
All of the characters in this story of love, guilt and redemption feel like real people, facing real dilemmas, and you truly care about what happens to them
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Gives three first-rate actors a chance to stretch, and they do.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
What makes this film truly chilling is the fact first-time feature filmmaker Scott Elliott and his writers somehow make every step of this descent harrowingly believable.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Weaver is superb in a movie as scary and provocative as the timely subject it explores.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore share their pain in a depressing World.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
If director Scott Elliott falters, it's only in the spots where he tries to comment on her (Alice's) persecution without being complicit in it.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Director Scott Elliott, in his feature-film debut, is especially perceptive about what goes on at the edges during deepening family crises, literally at the borders of the screen.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Don Kaye
Weaver herself inhabits her character with confidence and passion, although she's inconsistent in spots.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The movie Weaver has to carry has so many nagging imperfections that Academy Award attention looks like a long shot.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
If it's not one of the five best of 1999, it's a personal best for Weaver, and that's pretty good.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Staff
Something disturbing has happened to this story en route to the screen.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
This eerily dry drama bravely attempts to show, without resorting to the literal staging of contradictory scenarios, how much perceptions of the same situation can vary.
Read Full Review >Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
There's not a single moment when you forget it's Weaver; she always seems to be inhabiting this poor character's soul for her own purposes.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
All the right intentions but never overcomes the essential problem of showing what's going on inside people's heads.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Scott Elliott's palsied directorial debut, from a mine shaft-ridden script, is a sick joke, and Weaver's part in it screams of temporary insanity.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
For all the blathering, heavy-handed pathos, we might as well be watching the Lifetime cable channel.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ean C. gave it a 10:
One of those movies that makes you wonder what the Oscars are awarded for when this does not collect a thing. Both Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore are in parts that one would almost expect to be reversed. The jerkiness plays into the entire evaluation of Weavers mental state.
Greg G. gave it a 0:
A collage of devastating, life altering events, but lacks the unity to pull the film together. Sigourney Weaver's character is so extreme as to be unbelievable. A very unpleasant experience. Not recommended. Don't trust the critics!
