A Slipping-Down Life

Name: A Slipping-Down Life
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
Released: May 14, 2004
Duration: 109 min
Rating: 44
Cast: Guy Pearce, Irma P. Hall, Lili Taylor

2004

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critics

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Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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A SLIPPING-DOWN LIFE

Movie Details & Credits

Lions Gate Films | Release Date: May 14, 2004

Starring: Guy Pearce, Irma P. Hall, Lili Taylor

Summary: Based on the novel by Anne Tyler, A Slippping Down Life is the story of the unusual courtship of an awkward young woman and a charismatic singer/songwriter, and the profound effect that their unlikely relationship has on each other's lives. (Lions Gate Entertainment)

Director: Toni Kalem

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Music

Rating: R

Runtime: 109 min

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Critic Reviews

Baltimore Sun - Michael Sragow

A Slipping-Down Life may be low-key, but if you enter its unique atmosphere, you will leave exhilarated. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Kevin Crust

The casting of Taylor gives the film a powerful center, a bright light that keeps it on course. Read full review

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Although mood often substitutes for momentum in Ms. Kalem's film, both of her stars give affecting performances, and there's growth on both sides of the unlikely romance.

Chicago Reader - J.R. Jones

Writer-director Toni Kallem generates some touching moments (most of them involving Tom Bower as Taylor's wisp of a father), but this never surmounts the woeful miscasting of its two leads. Read full review

Variety - Joe Leydon

A curiously bland drama that fails to fulfill the promise of its early scenes. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine - Maitland McDonagh

Pearce can sing, but Drum's trademark "speaking out" -- free-associative ramblings that recall Jim Morrison of the Doors at his most embarrassingly pretentious -- falls far short of the hypnotic effect Tyler describes. Read full review

Chicago Tribune - Robert K. Elder

Released in theaters five years after its 1999 Sundance Film Festival premiere, Kalem's film is too precious, too self-conscious and far too enamored with itself to ever have any kind of genuine emotional truth. Read full review

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User Reviews

JamesH

Dec 7, 2009

In spite of Guy Pearce's enigmatic performance, the film is too slow moving and strange to be successful. Lili Taylor is once again bland, but she does give a decent performance. I am supposed to care about some obsessed nutcase that carves the name of her idol with broken glass on her In spite of Guy Pearce's enigmatic performance, the film is too slow moving and strange to be successful. Lili Taylor is once again bland, but she does give a decent performance. I am supposed to care about some obsessed nutcase that carves the name of her idol with broken glass on her forehead? Don't thinkl so! Pearce does his own singing and is quite good.… Expand

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