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THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (2012)Movie Reviews
Drama comedy about a former rock star whose quest to find the man who tormented his father in a concentration camp leads him on a road trip across America. Cast:Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon, Harry Dean Stanton, Joyce Van Patten, David Byrne, Olwen Fouere, Shea Whigham, Liron Levo, Simon Delaney, Heinz Lieven, Seth Adkins, Peter CareyDirector:Paolo SorrentinoRelease Date:November 2, 2012DVD Release:March 12, 2013From:The Weinstein CompanyRating:RLength:1 hr 58 min
MARCH 12, 2013
This Must Be the Place (2012), Good (Not Great) Reviews, Mixed Key Cities
This Must Be the Place (2012) played in key cities to good not great reviews. Reviews were mixed. • Ty Burr wrote in the Boston Globe, "...isn't a great movie, but it is a special one.... Better by far in pieces than as a whole, it is united by Penn's spectral presence and Luca Bigazzi's stunning camerawork..." • And Stephanie Zacharek wrote for Movieline, "...ill-conceived..." More Reviews Below...
This Must Be the Place (2012) Positive Reviews (28 Reviews, reviews below)
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's remarkable how comfortable Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is with the American and Irish vernaculars and the way a land shapes its people."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 11/16/12
James Rocchi, MSN Movies: MODERATE(cg) "...more interesting than it is out-and-out bad, but interesting alone doesn't cut it... The supporting cast is good... I can't tell about Penn."(See all of James Rocchi's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 11/01/12
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Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: GOOD "The lapses in logic are undeniable, but between the freshly imagined Americana and Penn's emotional sincerity, there's a gratifying friction."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 470 words, 11/02/12
Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Penn's performance is just too weird, the story too far-fetched, the tone too hard to gauge.... And yet there's purpose in this madness."(See all of Bilge Ebiri's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 679 words, 11/02/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's remarkable how comfortable Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is with the American and Irish vernaculars and the way a land shapes its people."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 11/16/12
Chris Packham, Village Voice/LA Weekly: EXCELLENT "Penn is astonishing, creating a funny, guileless waif, infusing a faded celebrity figure with tactility and humor.... something organic, whole, and achingly sweet."(See all of Chris Packham's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 261 words, 10/31/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: POOR(cg) "With its overbearing eccentricity, rib-nudging irony and confusion of tones, everything in the film is either underdeveloped or overstated."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 374 words, 11/09/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "...isn't a great movie, but it is a special one.... Better by far in pieces than as a whole, it is united by Penn's spectral presence and Luca Bigazzi's stunning camerawork..."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 632 words, 11/09/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: WEAK(cg) "...feels like two different movies - one odd, the other awful - joined together only by Penn's own eccentric, yet strangely compelling performance."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 565 words, 11/02/12
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...replaces emotional precision and intellectual honesty with syrupy sincerity and insistence. It turns boring and cute and begs us to love it."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 300 words, 11/09/12
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: WEAK(cg) "...an ill-conceived dramedy with a shockingly annoying performance by Sean Penn... can't really figure out what kind of movie it's supposed to be."(See all of Tom Keogh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 335 words, 11/09/12
Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...meandering, bizarre.... stubborn weirdness, plus a dissatisfying finale, make the movie less than the sum of its parts."(See all of Marc Mohan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 206 words, 11/09/12
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a shambling mess, which is kind of a compliment since it perfectly mirrors its central character... Penn's is an unforgettable performance..."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 416 words, 11/15/12
Chris Packham, Village Voice/LA Weekly: EXCELLENT "Penn is astonishing, creating a funny, guileless waif, infusing a faded celebrity figure with tactility and humor.... something organic, whole, and achingly sweet."(See all of Chris Packham's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 261 words, 10/31/12
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "...soggy, monumentally morose... Somehow, a lunatic plot line emerges... Frances McDormand is absurdly wrong as Cheyenne's loving wife..."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 145 words, 11/08/12
Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "...a shaggy-dog road movie that treats digression as epiphany, shot in a style that makes it seem as if Sorrentino is reinventing the world every few minutes."(See all of Mike D'Angelo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 441 words, 05/20/12
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: WEAK(cg) "...ill-conceived... a bewildering piece of work, a picture that may have initially been guided by a sweet impulse but takes a sharp left turn into crazytown."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 508 words, 05/20/11
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The film believes in maturity, but only as a freely continual process of acceptance. 'Getting there' is not only all the fun; it's all there is to it."(See all of Joseph Jon Lanthier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 823 words, 10/28/12
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: FAIR "...so richly accoutred is the character, and so attentive to nuance is Sean Penn's every move, that Cheyenne smothers the film.... it feels like a terrible fit."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 10/22/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: VERY GOOD "Paolo Sorrentino's symbol for accepting adulthood is a dubious one, but this journey through the sad and the strange is well worth following."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 589 words, 11/01/12
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "The lapses in logic are undeniable, but between the freshly imagined Americana and Penn's emotional sincerity, there's a gratifying friction."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 470 words, 11/02/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Jay Weissberg, Daily Variety: OUTSTANDING "...brims with warmth, humanity and respect in ways one doesn't often find in the work of coolmeisters like David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. Quirky, hilarious and moving..."(See all of Jay Weissberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 801 words, 05/20/11
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "Eccentric, misguided and occasionally charming and sweet.... Penn dominates the film, although it's a performance that slithers between the genuine and the stunt-like."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 612 words, 05/20/11
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "The lapses in logic are undeniable, but between the freshly imagined Americana and Penn's emotional sincerity, there's a gratifying friction."(See all of Sheri Linden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 470 words, 11/02/12
27.5 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
This Must Be the Place (2012)'s reviews are separated by an average 27.5 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.
This Must Be the Place (2012) (28 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:This Must Be the Place (2012)'s reviews cover 34.2% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 13,477 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 481 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
This Must Be the Place (2012) Coverage, Volume & Length (28 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 25 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
This Must Be the Place (2012)'s reviews on average broke 25 days before 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 This Must Be the Place (2012)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
This Must Be the Place (2012) (28 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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