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Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD (cg) "...suffocatingly sad... you still can never shake the sensation that you're watching a play on film. That draws attention to the structured theatricality of the work, but also makes the more powerful moments hit home with a piercing directness." (Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/16/10 Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: MODERATE (cg) "...[an] oppressively bleak drama. A taut-faced Kidman courts Oscar with her obvious arc... Actors love these meaty roles; viewers, less so." (Read the full review...) 79 words, 12/16/10 Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD (cg) "...has dialogue that sears, but the canniest thing about it is that it carves shrewd and lively dramatic arcs out of souls who are too damaged to feel their own feelings.... Nicole Kidman's most on-fire acting in years." (Read the full review...) 554 words, 12/10/10 Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Nicole Kidman is just astonishing... a movie that uses humor as a kind of healing.... haunting and hypnotic... It takes a piece out of you." (Read the full review...) 253 words, 12/10/10 Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a finely tuned portrait of grief that takes its time unfolding, much like the actual process of mourning. Nicole Kidman does some of her best, most nuanced work..." (Read the full review...) 549 words, 12/17/10 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...entertaining and surprisingly amusing, under the circumstances. The film is in a better state of mind than its characters.... It is simple enough to cover the events in the story, not so simple to modulate them for humor and even warmth." (Read the full review...) 567 words, 12/23/10 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Uncompromising, painful, and at times difficult to watch... lays bare more than a few raw nerves. Some viewers will find it too real, too immediate.... It is not patronizing and, more importantly, it is not manipulative." (Read the full review...) 956 words, 12/22/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "It is sensitive, considerate, and, in the end, not entirely persuasive.... it never quite manages to inspire the deep, resonant empathy these stricken parents -- and, more to the point, we in the audience -- so desperately need." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 12/17/10 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: WEAK (cg) "Kidman is able to draw you in even as the movie's solemn, morbid obviousness wears you out." (Read the full review...) 405 words, 12/17/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Its themes are strong, the questions of how we work through grief and go about reconnecting with life are unquestionably valid ones, but an air of genteel familiarity stifles their impact here." (Read the full review...) 505 words, 12/17/10 Kyle Smith, New York Post: WEAK (cg) "...reeks with a seedy, exploitative quality... it doesn't penetrate into human nature... It contains no poetry. It simply conjures up a horrible feeling -- and then sits back awaiting congratulation." (Read the full review...) 593 words, 12/17/10 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD (cg) "Kidman's capable of real strength, real emotion and real surprise, and Eckhart finds the ideal mixture of fear and anger in his big scenes. Fierce and intuitive, these actors are well-matched and well challenged." (Read the full review...) 557 words, 12/24/10 John Anderson, New York Newsday: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Gripping, occasionally funny and wonderfully acted drama." (Read the full review...) 309 words, 12/24/10 David Edelstein, New York Magazine: OUTSTANDING "...very fine.... Kidman is a revelation.... depicts a universe in which nothing makes sense, nothing fits, in which our best consolation is the dream of a world on the other side of a black hole..." (Read the full review...) 874 words, 01/03/11 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...entertaining and surprisingly amusing, under the circumstances. The film is in a better state of mind than its characters.... It is simple enough to cover the events in the story, not so simple to modulate them for humor and even warmth." (Read the full review...) 567 words, 12/23/10 Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...a sledgehammer of plot and score.... an incredibly manipulative prestige-pic 'minimalism'... the proceedings are so lifeless that you find yourself rooting for the narrative to fully tread into the disaster zones with which it flirts." (Read the full review...) 591 words, 12/15/10 Peter Howell, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a perceptive and sympathetic film... It's an outstanding performance by Kidman, who fully opens her heart to a role that plainly speaks to her deepest fears." (Read the full review...) 604 words, 12/17/10 Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a superb film that treats a sad topic with unflinching honesty." (Read the full review...) 891 words, 12/17/10 Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are sensational as adults dealing with their pain in opposite ways - she guarded, purging the house of reminders of her son, he obsessed with old family videos, working to preserve his memories." (Read the full review...) 156 words, 12/16/10
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a lucid, tough, deeply sensitive examination of emotional fortitude... Thanks in large part to Kidman's refusal to soften her character's most fascinating sharp edges, as well as Mitchell's superb command of the material..." (Read the full review...) 407 words, 12/25/10 Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD (cg) "Wrenching, poignant, and quietly healing... Employing minimalist means for maximum emotional impact, Kidman and Eckhart are superlative." (Read the full review...) 347 words, 12/24/10 Mick LaSalle, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE (cg) "...by turns heartrending and stultifying, but mostly stultifying. Partly, this is a natural consequence of the movie's atmosphere." (Read the full review...) 739 words, 01/14/11 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Nicole Kidman in a surprisingly full-blooded, brittle and fuming performance... she sparkles in scene after withering scene..." (Read the full review...) 584 words, 12/31/10 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...covers rocky emotional terrain with bracing honesty... Tense and mournful as it is, the film also has moments of wild hilarity and a sense of hope." (Read the full review...) 625 words, 12/24/10 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg) "...quiet, patient, allowing for lived-in performances that get at the enormous change in the characters' lives.... thanks to Kidman's remarkably naturalistic performance, it's worth the wait." (Read the full review...) 577 words, 12/24/10 Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...when grief is portrayed well, it creates its own impact: a rupture, a jagged rip in the fabric between life before and life after, which can never be the same." (Read the full review...) 457 words, 12/24/10 Ty Burr, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Kidman simply goes above and beyond.... this is a subtle, bone-deep performance, attuned to impatience and rage, gallows humor and the eeriest sort of quiet." (Read the full review...) 766 words, 12/24/10 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...expertly adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play... there's much more to it than misery: wit, wisdom, and a lovely, low-key ending.... The movie stays with you, as does the softly insistent music..." (Read the full review...) 493 words, 12/24/10 Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...might be mistaken for a mere soap opera. But it's actually an emotional symphony." (Read the full review...) 324 words, 01/14/11 Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...excellent, subtle, remarkable." (Read the full review...) 543 words, 01/13/11 Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD (cg) "...as heavy, stressful, relentlessly sad dramas go, this one goes quite well.... a very well-made film about a thoroughly terrible subject..." (Read the full review...) 328 words, 01/14/11 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD (cg) "Director John Cameron Mitchell keeps the visuals simple and the tone quiet, sneaking unexpected humor into a seemingly humorless situation, and allowing his cast to carry the show." (Read the full review...) 671 words, 01/14/11
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...a sledgehammer of plot and score.... an incredibly manipulative prestige-pic 'minimalism'... the proceedings are so lifeless that you find yourself rooting for the narrative to fully tread into the disaster zones with which it flirts." (Read the full review...) 591 words, 12/15/10 Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: VERY GOOD (cg) "...bears its theatrical roots in mostly good ways -- the highly literary writing, the emotionally fraught scenes stacked up on top of each other, the small cast of characters.... a little more neat and contained than a movie ought to be, the performances almost entirely make up for it." (Read the full review...) 587 words, 09/14/10 Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE (cg) "...doesn't have the imagination or daring to do much with the relationship. Also breaking from the mold is Dianne Wiest as Becca's dim but dogged mother. Her performance suggests that in a parallel universe this might be a much better movie." (Read the full review...) 165 words, 12/23/10 Keith Phipps, AV Club: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...plainness serves it, keeping the focus on the exceptional performances and the way grief keeps breaking through into everyday life at unexpected moments." (Read the full review...) 398 words, 12/16/10 Jesse Cataldo, Slant: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...may be perfect for awards season, poised to rack up accolades and wrench tears from willing audiences, but it's bad for much beyond that.... it is film as medicine, a big, pretty pill to be uncomfortably swallowed." (Read the full review...) 473 words, 12/14/10 Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are sensational as adults dealing with their pain in opposite ways - she guarded, purging the house of reminders of her son, he obsessed with old family videos, working to preserve his memories." (Read the full review...) 156 words, 12/16/10 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...offers more of an intellectual glimpse of the mourning process than a get-out-your-handkerchiefs tearjerker.... emphasizes the quiet epiphanies experienced by ordinary people." (Read the full review...) 398 words, 12/22/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "Nicole Kidman's beautiful performance transcends the specifics of the script... the most affecting moments are the oblique ones..." (Read the full review...) 308 words, 12/17/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "It is sensitive, considerate, and, in the end, not entirely persuasive.... it never quite manages to inspire the deep, resonant empathy these stricken parents -- and, more to the point, we in the audience -- so desperately need." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 12/17/10 Anthony Lane, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "Against all expectations, you approach 'Rabbit Hole' with a heavy heart and leave with a lighter one.... director John Cameron Mitchell refuses to tread the path laid out by dozens of TV movies on a similar theme." (Read the full review...) 399 words, 12/27/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Its themes are strong, the questions of how we work through grief and go about reconnecting with life are unquestionably valid ones, but an air of genteel familiarity stifles their impact here." (Read the full review...) 505 words, 12/17/10
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "Grief may be the topic under examination, but humor -- incisive, observant and warm -- is the tool with which it's dissected... a refreshingly positive-minded take on cinema's ultimate downer: overcoming the death of a child." (Read the full review...) 863 words, 09/14/10 Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart deliver performances that are like raw wounds... The film does achieve moments of catharsis, but it can be heavy going.... The drama has its own relentlessness. Every scene is about the couple's tragedy." (Read the full review...) 680 words, 09/14/10 Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Its themes are strong, the questions of how we work through grief and go about reconnecting with life are unquestionably valid ones, but an air of genteel familiarity stifles their impact here." (Read the full review...) 505 words, 12/17/10 Patrick Z. McGavin, Cinema 24/7: VERY GOOD (cg) "...nakedly bruising and affecting... Kidman and Eckhart turn out superb work, biting, confused, anxious... not a groundbreaking or profound film, but it is smart and compelling." (Read the full review...) 724 words, 09/27/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "It is sensitive, considerate, and, in the end, not entirely persuasive.... it never quite manages to inspire the deep, resonant empathy these stricken parents -- and, more to the point, we in the audience -- so desperately need." (Read the full review...) 998 words, 12/17/10 Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "Nicole Kidman's beautiful performance transcends the specifics of the script... the most affecting moments are the oblique ones..." (Read the full review...) 308 words, 12/17/10
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