Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
THE GHOST WRITERMovie Reviews
Thriller about a ghost writer who finds himself in grave danger after he signs on to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister. Cast:Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom WilkinsonDirector:Roman PolanskiRelease Date:February 19, 2010DVD Release:August 3, 2010From:Summit EntertainmentRating:PG-13Length:2 hr 8 min
The Ghost Writer played to excellent reviews. • Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "...the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident..." • And Richard Corliss wrote in Time, "...as comforting in its temperate pace and eerie mood as it is chilling in its plot particulars.... may not be major Polanski, but it sure is essential Polanski." More Reviews Below...
The Ghost Writer Positive Reviews (44 Reviews, reviews below)
Richard Corliss, Time: EXCELLENT "...as comforting in its temperate pace and eerie mood as it is chilling in its plot particulars.... may not be major Polanski, but it sure is essential Polanski."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,464 words, 02/20/10
David Germain, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Brosnan and Olivia Williams are the real highlights... you feel their absence and yearn for their return during the long stretches when McGregor is mucking about on his own."(See all of David Germain's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 773 words, 02/18/10
David Guggenheim, Us Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Despite skilled performances by McGregor and Kim Cattrall (who sports a U.K. accent as Brosnan's chief of staff), the thriller sags in the middle and limps to an obvious end."(See all of David Guggenheim's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 77 words, 02/18/10
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Polanski in brilliant command of a political thriller that ties you up in knots of tension while zinging politics and showbiz like two sides of the same toxic coin."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 620 words, 01/29/10
Claudia Puig, USA Today: VERY GOOD(cg) "The dialogue -- adapted by Polanski and British writer Robert Harris from Harris' novel 'The Ghost'-- is incisive and interspersed with wit.... spellbinding..."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 452 words, 02/19/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident, it builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 764 words, 02/25/10
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...high-grade pulp entertainment... But the pleasures of a well-directed movie should never be underestimated.... a very fine film from welcome start to finish."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,243 words, 02/19/10
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the performances are all over the board... Still, Polanski's an expert at building the sort of intense atmosphere that leaves his audience in a state of edgy paranoia."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 301 words, 02/19/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...the kind of impeccable adult entertainment, able to alternate edge-of-your-seat episodes with bleakly comic moments, that Hitchcock used to specialize in..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 861 words, 02/19/10
Kyle Smith, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...a movie about systemic lack of respect for women and the urgent need to extradite criminals.... Roman Polanski, you are the mayor of Chutzpahtown."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 502 words, 02/19/10
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: OUTSTANDING "...a trim, fluid, perfectly sustained work.... an audacious paranoid conspiracy drama, a thriller in which the violence is all offscreen or implied."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 414 words, 02/15/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident, it builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 764 words, 02/25/10
Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Polanski seems inspire... The wrap-up is one strange, ah-fuggit mess, on top of Google-powered plot moves, but Polanski's work therapy could have been a lot worse."(See all of Nicolas Rapold's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 217 words, 02/17/10
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a movie to savour like a good book. You don't want to miss revealing details that are, like that suspenseful note, carefully passed from hand to hand."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 677 words, 03/05/10
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "Thin, spectral and fleeting. Roman Polanski's political thriller hovers, stirring our fears, then disappears without a trace."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 670 words, 03/05/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...reaches back to the great conspiracy thrillers of the late 1960s and early 70s.... plays out the deepening mystery with confidence..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 456 words, 03/04/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a page-turner turned to the screen (Robert Harris, adapting his own best seller) with trenchant performances and evidence of a dark - very dark - wit."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 595 words, 02/26/10
Mick LaSalle, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a strong argument in favor of using extended shots and precise angles as a means of creating tension..."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 896 words, 02/26/10
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "It's not one of Polanski's masterpieces, but 'The Ghost Writer' doesn't dilute his reputation as a master of suspense."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 543 words, 03/05/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...brings a master's touch... so elegant, so deliciously scary, so masterfully controlled that you feel tingles of bliss even as your skin crawls."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 801 words, 03/05/10
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...this is Polanski flexing his moviemaking muscle, an expertly constructed thriller in the manner of Hitchcock, where little is shown but much is conveyed."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 716 words, 02/26/10
Christopher Kelly, Dallas Morning News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...ends with one of the most wicked shots in recent memory, a brutal final twist that alters our understanding of everything that has happened until then."(See all of Christopher Kelly's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 756 words, 02/26/10
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "As an exercise in craft, it's surprisingly successful... But as a political statement or personal drama, 'The Ghost Writer' is nearly invisible."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 317 words, 03/05/10
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: EXCELLENT(cg) "...the plot jumps the rails in the final reel -- exactly who did what to whom and why is debatable after the fadeout -- but Polanski never fails to keep viewers riveted..."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 619 words, 03/04/10
Tom Long, Detroit News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The swirl of visual poetry, political intrigue and personal zeal that Polanski creates gets under your skin and brings an icy hand up your back. This is moviemaking."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 673 words, 03/05/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (6 Reviews)
Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "Polanski seems inspire... The wrap-up is one strange, ah-fuggit mess, on top of Google-powered plot moves, but Polanski's work therapy could have been a lot worse."(See all of Nicolas Rapold's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 217 words, 02/17/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...competent but dull -- which is surprising given the connections to Polanski's own predicament (not to mention Tony Blair's). In other words, it's no 'Chinatown.' "(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 152 words, 03/04/10
Scott Tobias, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "...has the suffocating scale of a chamber piece... Yet in its entertaining mix of the topical and the personal, the film is a vital record of the times..."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 417 words, 02/18/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...reaches back to the great conspiracy thrillers of the late 1960s and early 70s.... plays out the deepening mystery with confidence..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 456 words, 03/04/10
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: EXCELLENT(cg) "If not as substantial as Polanski's greatest films, 'The Ghost Writer' can still make you fear things you don't believe in."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 672 words, 02/26/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...high-grade pulp entertainment... But the pleasures of a well-directed movie should never be underestimated.... a very fine film from welcome start to finish."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,243 words, 02/19/10
David Denby, New Yorker: OUTSTANDING "...the best thing Polanski has done since the seventies... offers the steady pleasures of high intelligence and unmatchable craftsmanship..."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,503 words, 03/01/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...the kind of impeccable adult entertainment, able to alternate edge-of-your-seat episodes with bleakly comic moments, that Hitchcock used to specialize in..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 861 words, 02/19/10
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Derek Elley, Daily Variety: WEAK "Polanski brings not a jot of his own directorial personality or quirks to a political pulp thriller whose weaknesses (let alone lack of any real action or thrills) are laid bare..."(See all of Derek Elley's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,124 words, 02/12/10
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "...an out-and-out thriller with international politics and war crimes... It's hypnotic as it unfolds, but once the credit roll frees you from its grip, it doesn't bear close scrutiny."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 930 words, 02/12/10
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...the kind of impeccable adult entertainment, able to alternate edge-of-your-seat episodes with bleakly comic moments, that Hitchcock used to specialize in..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 861 words, 02/19/10
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "...deals with political intrigue, disgraced politicos, and behind-closed-doors machinations, turning it into timely and relevant work."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 974 words, 02/17/10
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...high-grade pulp entertainment... But the pleasures of a well-directed movie should never be underestimated.... a very fine film from welcome start to finish."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,243 words, 02/19/10
17.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Ghost Writer's reviews are separated by an average 17.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Ghost Writer (44 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Ghost Writer's reviews cover 94.7% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 27,927 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 635 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 13.4 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Ghost Writer's reviews on average broke 13.4 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Ghost Writer's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Ghost Writer (44 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
