Edward Guthmann

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San Francisco Chronicle
For 526 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1 point higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Edward Guthmann's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 Thieves
Lowest review score: 0 Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 317 out of 526
  2. Mixed: 155 out of 526
  3. Negative: 54 out of 526
526 movie reviews
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    • 87 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    In the Mood for Love
    Wong denies us the satisfaction of resolution, but in sharing his mastery of cinema, and his gift for conveying mood, desire and vivid emotions, he's more than generous.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Agnes Browne
    Floats along on the strength of its writing and supporting cast.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    The Frighteners
    Smothers whatever merits it may have had in a rush of bells, whistles, bombast and smoke.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    The House of Yes
    Stylized dialogue tends to play awkwardly onscreen -- we're conditioned to naturalistic conversation in films -- and Waters, who makes his feature directing debut with The House of Yes, fails to create an emotional tone or attitude to match the characters' goofy repartee.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Under solen
    A charming, finely nuanced romance.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Seven
    Placing style above coherence, Seven glosses over plot points and shows a weakness for cheap, lurid effects.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Quitting
    It's downbeat material and it tends to drag a bit, but Jia's performance is so unsparing and intense -- and the film so compassionate and chaste in its approach to a life lost and recovered -- that Quitting ultimately satisfies.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Moulin Rouge!
    A movie so cheeky, aggressive and bursting with vitality that it can't help being annoying and exhilarating at the same time.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Benny & Joon
    Ultimately, Chechik can't pull off the fractured-fairy-tale aspect of Benny and Joon. His film never explains mental illness, but romanticizes it, making it seem like a state of enchantment. It's ultimately irresponsible, and not very funny. [16 Apr 1993, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Winter Sleepers
    A movie by a man who adores film and relishes its potential.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Chasing Amy
    Lacks insight and finesse, and feels like a boldfaced Rorschach for Smith's own hang-ups.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    The Green Mile
    Three hours of overstatement and schmaltz.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 100 Edward Guthmann
    Addams Family Values
    Addams Family Values is so much better than the first film -- partly because Sonnenfeld, who made his directing debut with the first film, has refined his directing chops, but mostly because Rudnick has contributed a delightful, mock- macabre script. [19 Nov 1993, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Shadow Boxers
    Could use more background and personal detail on Rijker, but Bankowsky's tight, no- frills approach is always compelling.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Joe Gould's Secret
    (Holm) nails one of the best roles of his career.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 100 Edward Guthmann
    Dirty Pretty Things
    All told, the best ensemble cast I've seen this year.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Comedian
    Entertaining.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    The Other Side of Heaven
    Handsome and sincere but slightly awkward in its combination of entertainment and evangelical boosterism.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Shadow Magic
    A pleasant but conventional film.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Splendor
    A menage a trois tale that aspires to the breezy screwball comedies of the 1930s -- but more often resembles a hip soap opera.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 63 Edward Guthmann
    Larger Than Life
    Larger Than Life isn't as bad as it sounds, mostly because Murray is so likable and fundamentally incapable of not being funny.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Consenting Adults
    Consenting Adults is well-made, preposterous junk -- the kind of modestly effective thriller that delivers a modicum of thrills but insults its audience, over and over, to achieve that effect. [16 Oct 1992, p.C1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
    So quick that the flat moments are rapidly, inevitably chased by a new gag.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    A League of Their Own
    A serious weakness for corn isn't Marshall's only problem. She's got a gift for comedy and she brings out the best in many actors, but she's juggling too many elements here -- baseball, a huge cast, a 1940s milieu -- and never finds a consistently satisfying tone or rhythm. [1 July 1992, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Edward Guthmann
    Before Night Falls
    It's an horrific and tragic story, but somehow made beautiful through the care and attention of Schnabel's direction and Bardem's tender, unforgettable performance.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Under the Sand
    This is Rampling's film, and she's never less than surprising, never less than a revelation.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 25 Edward Guthmann
    Leave It to Beaver
    Instead of defining and spoofing its period, its attitude and its social barometer, Leave It to Beaver just stumbles about in a bland, irony-deprived suburbia that denies the movie any juice or bite and renders the Cleaver family even duller than it was.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Edward Guthmann
    Kansas City
    It starts out with several seemingly separate stories and characters, allows them to tease, overlap and shade one another, and then weaves them into one rich fabric. It's an allegory about American life -- a tough, cynical meditation on race, crime and the futility of human endeavor.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 75 Edward Guthmann
    Affliction
    Schrader seems to understand these characters implicitly, and the result is probably the best film he has directed.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Edward Guthmann
    Spartacus
    Spartacus isn't the greatest epic ever made, but it's head and shoulders above most of the sword-and-sandal wheezers that came out in the '50s and '60s. And, given the prohibitive costs of shooting an epic today, it's the kind of movie we're not likely to see anymore -- except in well-deserved revivals like this one. [13 May 1991, p.E1]
    • San Francisco Chronicle
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