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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Waking the Dead
USA Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for sexuality and language
Starring
Billy Crudup,
Jennifer Connelly,
Molly Parker,
Janet McTeer,
Paul Hipp,
Sandra Oh,
Hal Holbrook,
and
Ed Harris
A lawyer (Crudup) running for Congress starts seeing visions of his dead girlfriend (Connelly) and believes he might be losing his mind.
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Robert Dillon
Keith Gordon
Scott Spencer (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Keith Gordon
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 26, 2000
Video: September 26, 2000
Theatrical: March 24, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 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
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
One of the most powerful romances of recent years, it is as generous as they come.
100
TNT RoughCut
Bilge Ebiri
Gordon directs with a graceful precision and shorthand that makes the story seem simple, though it's anything but. Indeed, it's fascinatingly complex, juggling time periods and political, mystical, and psychological themes without ever losing touch with the core message: Love conquers all.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
It is a film of uncommon intelligence and rigor that illuminates a complex era, and the romance at its center is also one of exceptional passion and honesty.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
A film with a real depth, resonance and texture, and room for an ensemble of supporting characters.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
It's almost startling to see a film that believes in itself and its characters so deeply.
75
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
Structurally flawed, occasionally shlocky, but written with unusual intelligence and subtlety.
75
Baltimore Sun
Milton Kent
Gordon deserves credit for at least attempting to deal with political themes, and the tension isn't bad either.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Offbeat tale, which tackles weighty themes. But sentimentality overtakes intelligence.
75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
It's a romantic weepie.
70
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
A pensive, reflective movie, more or less equal in tone to Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm," yet, because of its temporal breadth and tight emotional focus, it packs a more intimate punch.
70
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
Catches the volatile beauty of what it was to be alive and politically aware in the early '70s with a rare accuracy and depth.
70
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
This wonderfully acted romance brings the touching fantasy "Truly, Madly, Deeply" to mind.
63
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Has a good heart and some fine performances, but is too muddled at the story level to involve us emotionally.
63
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
As involved as Crudup and Connelly beseech you to be with this story, their very youthfulness, their nagging lack of adulthood, keeps the film from being anything more credible than a tight grad-school tryst.
60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Its virtues are still genuine and durable enough to resist the blandishments of hype.
58
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
The movie is a shambles, a rambling, disjointed love tragedy with a story that amounts to little more than a mess of fade-outs, sloppy montages, and dramatic sketches.
50
Film.com
Elizabeth Weitzman
Crudup tends to take average parts in standard genre films and turn them into something special.
50
TV Guide
Ken Fox
A tale of conscience lost and found becomes little more than a smart but tepid ghost story for idealists and '60s survivors, and not a terribly spooky one at that.
50
Chicago Tribune
Marc Caro
By the time of Fielding's and Sarah's final, gooey encounter, she's not the only one who needs waking.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
The film is one of the more adult offerings out there in a spring movie season peppered with martial arts and superheroes. It may be just what you're looking for.
50
Film.com
Peter Brunette
Its evocation of the politics and Zeitgeist of the late '60s is so right on, as we used to say, that it left me stunned.
50
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
It's too fragmented and diffuse to ever bring its parts together in any really satisfying manner.
50
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Enough to anesthetize the living.
50
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Forever stumbling over itself and breaking its own spell.
50
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Gorden teases out some affecting scenes, but not enough to carry a film that promises more than it delivers.
33
Portland Oregonian
Bob Campbell
As so often happens, politics and religion add up to a double dose of self-righteousness.
25
USA Today
Staff [Not Credited]
Spanning the counterculture '70s to the more career-oriented '80s and doing justice to neither decade, this event-heavy adaptation of Scott Spencer's novel may give viewers whiplash.
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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