Brideshead Revisited
Miramax Films | Release Date: July 25, 2008
5.7
USER SCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
19
Mixed:
9
Negative:
9
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand
Review this movie
VOTE NOW
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Check box if your review contains spoilers 0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
5
DavidW.Aug 1, 2008
Brideshead was an ITV tv series, not BBC, as assumed by Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor. Hay, imagine it, little old UK has more than one TV station, who would have thought??
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
TanyaMAug 8, 2008
Mediocre at best. The whole film seemed just a jumble of loose "ideas" (Catholicism, bad), never developing even a single aspect of the characters or the story into anything you could hold onto or care about. Even Emma Thompson couldn't Mediocre at best. The whole film seemed just a jumble of loose "ideas" (Catholicism, bad), never developing even a single aspect of the characters or the story into anything you could hold onto or care about. Even Emma Thompson couldn't carry the film since she was hardly in it! Her character was set up to be this harrowing, over-bearing and infinitely damaging mother to her children, and then it was never paid off. All the characters sure blathered on about it, but we never got to see those relationships for ourselves. Yeh, that pretty much pinpoints the whole problem...lots and lots of talk about things (alcoholism, being gay, loosing children, bad marriages, religion, painting in the jungle ha!), but never any witnessing of those things for ourselves. All "talk" and no "do" equals boring. But, on the positive side, I felt like having popcorn and a diet coke...so that was a plus.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
6
WaughmongerSep 30, 2008
If only Evelyn Waugh had been born 50 years later, so he could have been around to take advice from "Jackson" on plot development and "Bobbie" on characterization. That aside, the film is a disappointing adaption of a book that is If only Evelyn Waugh had been born 50 years later, so he could have been around to take advice from "Jackson" on plot development and "Bobbie" on characterization. That aside, the film is a disappointing adaption of a book that is structurally better suited to a television serial, as demonstrated by comparison with the classic ITV version.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
6
JayH.Jan 8, 2009
Talky but exquisitely produced. Excellent costumes, art direction and cinematography. The acting is good as well, the director has a good style.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
ChadS.Aug 11, 2008
More often than not, fanboys get the comic book adaptation they wanted; the most notable exception being, it goes without saying, Joel Schumacher's "Batman and Robin"(for years, George Clooney would go on late night-talk shows and say, More often than not, fanboys get the comic book adaptation they wanted; the most notable exception being, it goes without saying, Joel Schumacher's "Batman and Robin"(for years, George Clooney would go on late night-talk shows and say, "I killed Batman."). There was no blog for William Makepeace Thackeray fans to prevent Mira Nair from integrating William Makepiece Thackeray's "Vanity Fair", or a cyberspace to speak of when Jane champion created a thoroughly modern Isabel for her take on Henry James' "The Portrait of a Lady". Which brings us to Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" and the agenda of the filmmaker to malign the Catholic faith. God doesn't hate Sebastian(Ben Whishaw) and force him into exile; it's how Lady Marchmain(Emma Thompson) uses God as a weapon through her own interpretation of the good book's bylaws. The bizarre love triangle, in particular, the line that connects Charles(Matthew Goode) to Sebastian is what drives "Brideshead Revisited" early on. Does Charles romance another man with complete emotional detachment for the right to hobnob with the filthy rich in their palacial estates? The line between Charles has its own intrigue, too. Maybe the godless Oxford student chases after Julia(Hayley Atwell) since he recognizes that the siblings' mother customized her god to call his relationship with Sebastian into question. "Brideshead Revisited" feels both truncated and overlong after Lady Marchmain throws Charles out of Brideshead. We're barely acquainted with Charles' wife when Julia re-enters his life. Not nearly enough time is spent on his rise in the art world. The same problem applies to Lady Marchmain's realization that she was too stringent with her children. She just tells us. The film doesn't dramatize what led her to this realization.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
pascaladolphejeanJan 16, 2009
Although the production values are generally good, there is a clobber-you-over-the-head quality to the screen adaptation and some of the performances that make the film far inferior to the mini-series. Marginalizing the theme of old-world Although the production values are generally good, there is a clobber-you-over-the-head quality to the screen adaptation and some of the performances that make the film far inferior to the mini-series. Marginalizing the theme of old-world Catholicism in the lives of the characters was also a major mistake. At best, this version is a watchable costume drama, and not much more. Too bad.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
6
RobertI.Mar 1, 2009
Workmanlike, lush, but lacking tooth. Is our generation simply more insipid than the original, or addicted to Technicolor? Give us 8 more hours, in black and white.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
More From This Movie

64 Critic Reviews

5.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL