Maps to the Stars

Name: Maps to the Stars
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: February 27, 2015
Duration: 111 min
Rating: 67
Cast: John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson

2015

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Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 97 Ratings

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Maps To The Stars

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus World | Release Date: February 27, 2015 | R

Starring: John Cusack, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson

Summary: Meet the Weiss family, who are making their way in Hollywood rife with money, fame, envy, and relentless hauntings. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) has her work cut out managing the career of their disaffected child-star son,Meet the Weiss family, who are making their way in Hollywood rife with money, fame, envy, and relentless hauntings. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a famed TV self-help therapist with an A-list celebrity clientele. Meanwhile, Cristina Weiss (Olivia Williams) has her work cut out managing the career of their disaffected child-star son, Benjie (Evan Bird), a fresh graduate of rehab at age 13. Yet unbeknownst to them, another member of the Weiss family has arrived in town - mysteriously scarred and tormented Agatha (Mia Wasikowska), just released from a psych ward and ready to start again. She soon works her way into a friendship with a limo driver (Robert Pattinson) and becomes personal assistant to unraveling actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), who is beset by the ghost of her legendary mother, Clarice (Sarah Gadon). But Agatha is on a quest for redemption - and even in this realm of the artificial, and the unearthly, she's determined to find it, no matter what it takes. [Focus World]… Expand

Director: David Cronenberg

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 111 min

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Critic Reviews

100

James Mottram

Feb 27, 2015

Detractors may carp that Cronenberg is showing us nothing new, but Maps is so flawless in its execution, it vividly refreshes the subject matter. Never overcooking the setting, it’s a story right in his wheelhouse; a very human look at characters barely clinging to their humanity. Read full review

Peter Travers

Feb 26, 2015

You can laugh with Maps to the Stars, but you can't laugh it off. Prepare to be knocked for a loop. Read full review

The Playlist Oliver Lyttelton

May 24, 2014

The film is a sickly enjoyable wallow in the scandalous, fucked-up side of showbusiness, and a real return to form for the filmmaker. Read full review

Film.com Jordan Hoffman

May 20, 2014

Cronenberg’s map doesn’t lead to a satisfying destination in a typical story sense, but it is a remarkable quest. For a movie that has so many problems, it is one of the more watchable ones. Read full review

Anthony Lane

Mar 2, 2015

Maps to the Stars is at its most potent and beautiful by far when it becomes a ghost story — when the departed, not just Havana’s mother, return to quiz the living. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

May 24, 2014

Cronenberg assumes a distinctly clinical approach to the emotional, social and business shenanigans on display here, a perspective that has brilliantly served some of his overtly psychological, horror and sci-fi pieces but gives this one a brittle and airless feel. Read full review

Rex Reed

Feb 25, 2015

She’s (Moore) the best thing in this toxic carnage of creepy, self-indulgent decadence, but under the direction of loopy Canadian David Cronenberg, she goes beyond the limit of acceptable artistry. Read full review

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User Reviews

katezoe

Feb 28, 2015

Pitch perfect movie about Hollywood and how incestous it is figuratively and literraly. Julianne Morre gives one of the bravest no holds barred performances for an A list actress I have ever seen. Screenplay amazing and this is one of David Cronenberg's best film.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

danipp

Mar 13, 2015

Crazy, funny, scary, with an incredible Julianne Moore. It's clear why this movie didn't get a 2014 release and why the Academy preferred Moore in Still Alice, since it makes a huge critic to Hollywood, including mentions of names like Demi Lovato, Garry Marshall and even Harvey Weinstein.Crazy, funny, scary, with an incredible Julianne Moore. It's clear why this movie didn't get a 2014 release and why the Academy preferred Moore in Still Alice, since it makes a huge critic to Hollywood, including mentions of names like Demi Lovato, Garry Marshall and even Harvey Weinstein. But I liked how Cronenberg and Wagner explored the politics, fame and behavior of big stars. They're not lying, they're showing something real that many people don't wanna see. Besides the world of movies and celebrities, Maps to the Stars tells a bizarre story about a family and a star who has issues with her abusive dead mother. Mia Wasikowska is also amazing in this surpising movie. I recommend!… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

beingryanjude

Mar 1, 2015

A highly entertaining, yet dark look at the Hollywood lifestyle and those involved and affected by it. Featuring a strong ensemble of unusual suspects, lead by Julianne Moore's fine performance.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

DRauchDoes2015

Apr 15, 2015

Maps to the Stars is a scattered collection of repulsive characters, some less so than others but, aye, there is nary a sympathetic individual to relate to here. The experience of enduring their forced company is a combination of horrified revulsion, bizarre fascination, and occasionalMaps to the Stars is a scattered collection of repulsive characters, some less so than others but, aye, there is nary a sympathetic individual to relate to here. The experience of enduring their forced company is a combination of horrified revulsion, bizarre fascination, and occasional boredom, despite the unrelenting steamroller of antipathetic sentiments. Cronenberg's motive for displaying such abhorrent behavior is in the service of a painfully obvious, yet watchable critique of hollywood, one that doesn't succeed entirely for two reasons. They are (1) how the multiple interweaving characters don't thematically cohere by the conclusion, rendering the significance of their stories hollow, and (2) the loathsome qualities of Hollywood Cronenberg takes aim at being either over-exaggerated for shock value or crude and dull.

Cronenberg adds a supernatural element that, though absurd and melodramatic, adds a touch of distinction to an otherwise reality-grounded tale. This is also a movie that, however misguided and hyperbolic, is fearless in it's presentation. Evident of this is the unabashedly unflattering light cast upon the actors, many rising above it and delivering noteworthy work, particularly the multi-dimensional, accolade-worthy performance by Julianne Moore (seriously, one of her all-time best characters), an uncompromisingly ugly and monstrous creation that borders on villainous, yet is also pitiable and damaged.

Cronenberg can still create disquieting films. Even though Maps to the Stars is jumbled, I can't say I wasn't challenged. The character of Benji, a drug addicted rising star brat is vulgar, barbaric, and downright loathsome. He is brought to life by young actor Evan Bird with an aplomb beyond his years, whose age-to-explicitity ratio reminds me of Chloe Grace Moretz's controversial star turn in Kick-Ass. Also included in Maps to the Stars is a storyline involving incest, an overall indulgence in gratuitous sex and drug abuse, the manipulation of a child's death to further someone's career, and numerous instances of self-serving behavior masked behind a facade of passive aggression. Some of this has become commonplace in tales of excess, but there are occasional developments that I see as unprecedented (did I mention the incest plot line?).

That being said, Cronenberg places all of these potential shock-worthy elements in the service of story that as a whole only intermittently tries to dispense meaning to the proceedings, and it ends on a regressively non-resolute note. When he pitches a scene satirically, the results are often so stone-faced that the line is blurred as to whether or not the cast is in on the 'joke', or if Cronenberg was even trying to be funny in the first place. Some attempts land (I found the quip where Robert Pattinson considers joining the church of Scientology to advance his career pretty left-field), but many of the jabs at hollywood are just as artificial and surface-level as the subject he means to criticize.

But then again, it never is easy to generalize any of the films of David Cronenberg. He often hovers in that odd area of provocation, queasy discomfort, brilliance, and abstraction, and in this work of his, it isn't elucidated as to what it is he's trying to say, more so than many of his other films. I don't mean that he should dumb down his output or avoid challenging his audience, those are the qualities I regard in his work. I do think that, as is the case of Maps to the Stars, he tends to send us down a rabbit-hole of his own unique design where even he doesn't know it leads to. So, yeah, Maps is a bit of a miss for him. It left me feeling sour and perturbed, in a good way, but also indifferent, in a bad way. A mixed bag.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

WJS

Sep 11, 2015

Very strange movie definitely in the weird Cronenberg style. It's listed here as a comedy but I didn't find anything very funny. It's a bizarre take on the ins and outs of the minds of Hollywood. The acting is pretty good (it's almost like Julianne Moore is channeling Lindsay Lohan). I don'tVery strange movie definitely in the weird Cronenberg style. It's listed here as a comedy but I didn't find anything very funny. It's a bizarre take on the ins and outs of the minds of Hollywood. The acting is pretty good (it's almost like Julianne Moore is channeling Lindsay Lohan). I don't think I really liked it very much; it's just way too strange and not really my cup of tea.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Stargirl04

May 15, 2016

I usually love David's work but this one was a bit slow for me. It held my interest but it could have been better. Great Cast but a little underwhelming for me.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

dierregi

Feb 27, 2015

This is the story of a bunch of creeps, Hollywood-style. If you can sympathise with the following characters, you probably will like the movie:

*Benji, ex-junkie teenager TV show star, jealous about child actors; *Cristina and Stafford, couple of weirdos parents, exploiting said teenageThis is the story of a bunch of creeps, Hollywood-style. If you can sympathise with the following characters, you probably will like the movie:

*Benji, ex-junkie teenager TV show star, jealous about child actors; *Cristina and Stafford, couple of weirdos parents, exploiting said teenage junkie; *Agatha, homicidal schizophrenic girl stalking her family; *Havana, washed up movie actress consumed by the desire of playing her mother's part in a remake.

On the other hand, if you think that the rich are different from you and I and you find it difficult to feel empathy for a "poor" kid who will earn only 6 million per season instead of 8, you might not get the point of this flaccid tale. Unless that is "even rich people have their problems".

If emotional engagement is not your thing, you might still have problems with the script and editing. The movie contains several overlong scenes that add nothing to story, except underlining how depraved people are in Hollywood. The party scene, with the despicable conversation among teenagers is a very good example.

Then there is a scene with Havana, the Moore character, sitting on the crapper and farting away, while having a conversation with her assistant. This is usually described as "vanity-free" interpretation by the critics. Which means Hollywood stars looking like you and me in the morning, rather than their red-carpet version. In turn, this is interpreted as "mega-stars demeaning their supernatural status, thus deserving an Oscar".

Finally, several "ghost scenes" are scattered liberally in the story. They are among the worst I have ever seen, Havana's ghost mum being the most risible of the bunch.

Eventually bad things happen to bad people and the movie ends not a second too soon, but who cares: this is a movie –as somebody wrote – that you want to forget you saw.… Expand

0 of 6 users found this helpful06

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