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Weight of Water, The
Lions Gate Films Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence, sexuality/nudity, and brief language
Starring
Catherine McCormack,
Sarah Polley,
Sean Penn,
Josh Lucas,
Elizabeth Hurley,
Ciarán Hinds,
Ulrich Thomsen,
and
Anders W. Berthelsen
Based on the novel by Anita Shreve, this is the story of a contemporary woman whose obsession with a notorious unsolved crime from the 1800s leads her to confront devastating truths in her own life. (Lions Gate Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Alice Arlen
Christopher Kyle
Anita Shreve (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Kathryn Bigelow
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 4, 2003
Video: March 4, 2003
Theatrical: November 1, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / France |
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...
75
Chicago Tribune
Loren King
Despite the deftness with which Bigelow handles the transitions, the modern story never attains the intrigue and tension of the period tale.
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
The insistent crosscutting suggests there is something powerful between the two stories, but apart from vague connections of jealousy, emotional tension and conversations that constantly dance around the real issues, they don't resonate across the years.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
In the heaving cross-century swirl of the climax, ''Weight'' makes its point: Jealousy is timeless; Hurley is not.
63
Boston Globe
Janice Page
Though it never rises to its full potential as a film, still offers a great deal of insight into the female condition and the timeless danger of emotions repressed.
60
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
It's an intelligently made (and beautifully edited) picture that at the very least has a spark of life to it -- more than you can say for plenty of movies that flow through the Hollywood pipeline without a hitch.
60
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
There is so much to admire in The Weight of Water, Kathryn Bigelow's churning screen adaptation of a novel by Anita Shreve, that when the movie finally collapses on itself late in the game, it leaves you in the frustrating position of having to pick up its scattered pieces and assemble them as best you can.
50
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
All the elements are in place for an entertaining murder mystery, but as Bigelow meanders aimlessly back and forth through time, the plot becomes increasingly water-logged.
50
Variety
Emanuel Levy
Despite recurrent narrative and dramatic problems, each of Bigelow's pics provides a visual treat, and this film is no exception.
50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The book has been altered in mostly reasonable ways to suit the needs of the screen, but what it loses in the translation is invaluable in comprehending what led someone to pick up an ax and wipe out two-thirds of an island's population.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Involves two mysteries -- one it gives away and the other featuring such badly drawn characters that its outcome hardly matters. But the picture looks great.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Shows glimmers of great drama, but jettisons too much essential cargo (character development, relationships, plot, common sense) in an effort to be lean and clean.
50
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
The two stories never come close to meshing the way the filmmaker intended. The result is a well-acted movie that simply doesn't gel.
50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Contains multiple ax murders, lesbianism, incest, a hanging, and a storm at sea -- yet, despite all of this seemingly enticing material, it's a bore.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The actors are splendid, especially Sarah Polley and Sean Penn, but we never feel confident that these two plots fit together, belong together, or work together.
50
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Whereas "Posession" was relatively light on its feet, this is so overloaded from the outset that it can only sink.
50
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
As a director, Bigelow knows how to get out of the house, but she can be impatient when it comes to humdrum reality. That may account for her interest in Shreve's novel, with its epic tragedies, and it may help to explain the misguided casting of Penn and Hurley, each of whom comes equipped with an oversized personality.
40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Perhaps because the present-day characters are such insufferable twits -- especially the brooding Penn, who's given to tossing around stanzas by Yeats and Dylan Thomas -- the modern story feels like a device, a flimsy entrée into events that would be better accessed directly.
40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Penn, in particular, is so subdued he's hardly there, while Hurley's seductive, hyper-articulate Adaline is actually ludicrous, sucking suggestively on ice cubes and reciting poetry like a phone-sex operator pretending to be a book-reading babe.
40
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Lovingly detailed but unaccountably clumsy, obviously ambitious, and unfortunately chintzy. It's also genuinely anachronistic.
30
LA Weekly
Ron Stringer
Provides an unfulfilled promise of pleasure (providing one doesn't cave in to the spectacle of bare-chested Elizabeth Hurley sucking on an ice cube) in this heavy-handed exercise in time-vaulting literary pretension.
30
Dallas Observer
Bill Gallo
Means to be heavy in terms of psychology, provocation and the examination of emotion, but it sinks like a stone the minute it hits the surface.
20
Film Threat
Ross Williams
Dreadful.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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