Ninth Gate, The

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Polanski's directing is marvelously assured and Depp is always fun to watch.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Amusing, ultra-deadpan entertainment. The director was lucky enough to have a cast who were in on the joke and tuned in to his wavelength.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The movie falls apart toward the end as it enters "Eyes Wide Shut" territory, but until then, it's fun to see bookworms cast in the James Bond mode.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Elegant, scary fun.

Philadelphia Inquirer Gary Thompson

Begins to take on a striking resemblance to the infamously bad "Eyes Wide Shut."

TNT RoughCut Don Kaye

Fairly enjoyable as an old-fashioned horror yarn -- or, if that doesn't work for you, as a black comedy about an obsessive collector.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A devilish little comedy whose urbane, satirical humor will probably sail right over the heads of audiences weaned on Scream.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Compulsively watchable and its occasional lapses into that familiar Polanskian overkill are almost charming.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

So visually striking, so compulsively watchable as storytelling, and so personal even in its enigmas that I found it much more pleasurable than any of the Hollywood genre films I've seen lately.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Exotic Ninth Gate breaks down into clichés.

Newsweek Andrea C. Basora

As long as Polanski keeps his focus on character and ambiance, the film is an eerie pleasure. But he doesn't, and it degenerates into a second-rate chase movie which takes its supernatural overtones either too seriously or too lightly to be convincing.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Right up to its deliberate thud of a closer, Polanski had me.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Summoning silliness Roman Polanski salutes and spoofs satanic thrillers .

USA Today Mike Clark

The script is so bereft of real surprises that it's best to keep the lid on what few there are.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

After a cheeky, campy start, The Ninth Gate leaves you with a bitter and dull aftertaste.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Lacking noticeable energy or drive, its almost visceral distaste for dramatic momentum is puzzling, especially in a film about the black arts.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

This is really a shaggy devil story whose giddy, ironic tone may throw viewers expecting a scary movie.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This tale may well weave a more compelling spell on the page; onscreen it's simply ponderous.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Euro-kitsch of the highest order, which doesn't mean it's necessarily bad, just unnecessary.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The whole thing seems to meander aimlessly, rarely creating a chill.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

About as scary as a sock-puppet re-enactment of "The Blair Witch Project," and not nearly as funny.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A non-thrilling occult thrillersolame and unoriginal that it would be an embarrassment for any director, much less a talent like Roman Polanski.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A film that really has no idea what it wants to be, so it tries a little of everything, and does nothing very well.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

The once-talented Mr. Polanski is hard to spot.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A film not even a star as foxed and foxy as Johnny Depp himself could save.

Film.com Gemma Files

A nonsensical mishmash.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Never quite becomes unwatchable.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Most of the actors seem to have been issued one facial expression at the beginning of the film, along with pain-of-death instructions not to change it under any circumstance.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A supernatural thriller that is neither super, natural, nor thrilling.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Polanski, generally, has fallen farther than Lucifer, and into a more profoundly depressing hell, the hell of utter banality.