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Watcher, The
Universal Pictures


3.8

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 10 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for violence and language.

Starring Ernie Hudson, Keanu Reeves, James Spader, and Marisa Tomei

A former FBI agent (Spader) tracking a serial killer (Reeves) gives up solving the crimes after 8 years. The agent moves to another city, but the killer finds him and starts sending photographs of new victims -- one of which is (Tomei), the agent's psychiatrist.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Darcy Meyers (story) David Elliot (also story) Clay Ayers
DIRECTED BY:	Joe Charbanic
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 20, 2001 Video: February 20, 2001 Theatrical: September 8, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	96 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...

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

What distinguishes The Watcher from all the films it consciously or unconsciously emulates is the intermittently witty, offbeat writing of debuting screenwriter David Elliot.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The actors cannot be faulted. They bring more to the story than it really deserves.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

This thriller largely succeeds in putting quotation marks around its use of genre conventions, mixing subtlety and overkill to create a pensive mood that transcends the plot.

USA Today Andy Seiler

It's still the same sick story. Even the small touches seem stale.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Has its compelling moments, and its playfully inventive ones, too.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Reeves is a stiff dancer and he delivers his lines in a full leather jacket monotone.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

The satisfaction of watching it essentially boils down to seeing whether or not Reeves can pull it off.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Leaves me wanting to watch Tomei and company in something more worthy of their abilities.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

If Reeves weren't onboard this picture would have gone straight to video.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Sluggish and preposterous, full of violence and cliches.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Isn't even worth a glance.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Once the terror ends and the credits roll, we finally get to the best part: a merciful escape.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

A hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles can't disguise the fact that this dismal thriller is all situation and no story.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A story about unmotivated characters trapped in an ill-conceived plot.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's lively but fails to disguise the fact that his (Charbanic) script is a dud and his career in videos has taught him little about the art of narrative storytelling.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The picture's real interest lies in detailing the villain's sadistic crimes, though, and this is rarely fun or edifying to watch.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A crass, mechanical attempt at a thriller that should have gone straight to video.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The movie is paint-by-numbers with several numbers skipped.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Neither acutely suspenseful nor particularly thrilling but instead mainly numbing.

Variety Joe Leydon

Emerges as a formulaic thriller that plays more like direct-to-video fare than a megaplex-worthy feature.

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

It stinks pretty bad, but not so bad you'd go out of your way to avoid it.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Fails to fulfill.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Sidesteps any juicy subtext in favor of routine chase-movie thrills.

TNT RoughCut Andy Klein

An uninspired, standard-issue mimeo whose only distinguishing feature is a reversal in its casting.

Film.com Robert Horton

A dismal new serial-killer thing.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

By the end of The Watcher you'll need your own prescription.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's something no one should watch.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A shockingly, unbelievably bad movie.

The average user rating for this movie is 3.8 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Felix C. gave it a1:
Too easy to predict. Keanu Reaves cannot play a bad guy, he doesn't scare me.

Rod G. gave it a6:
This movie was okay. It got 28 reviews from critics. Critics are like weathermen. They're almost always wrong.

Tobi gave it a2:
Holy crap this is one of the most predictable, boring and dumb movies i've ever seen.

armando s. gave it a6:
This was actually better then most critics rated it- Keanu Reeves does better playing a bad guy -his best role is in THE GIFT. Of course the plot is not very believable, but that is true for most thrillers-pretty enjoyable if you turn off your brain.

ty t gave it a10:
It put me into some kind of sadisticaly darkened state of entrancement. I couldn't get enough!

Mehdi B. gave it a 10:
I found it excellent.

Watcher, The Universal Pictures

Watcher, The
Universal Pictures