Code 46
United Artists | Release Date: August 6, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Provocative, quietly erotic, deeply romantic, and slyly witty (a cameo by a giant of punk rock is funny at first sight, and funnier still when you figure out the joke it's making), Code 46 is a very effective antidote to summer blockbuster bloat. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Cyberpunk meets renegade romance, à la Orwell. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Code 46 has a noirish fatalism that renders it a close cousin to ''Blade Runner,'' but Winterbottom's film, shot mostly in the light, uses the theme of memory erasure to peer into the eternal sunshine of tragically altered minds. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Astonishing, haunting and lyrical on its own terms. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Not always compellingly made, but intelligent and perhaps prophetic. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Updates a classic premise -- the struggle for personal freedom -- by pairing it with ethical and moral quandaries. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
What is deeply stirring is Code 46's sound, light and texture. It's probably bad critical form to recommend a movie based largely on abstractions like "vibe," but Winterbottom does such a glorious job building his world that a certain breed of filmgoer can get punch-drunk lost in the pure cinema of it all. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
If the movie is finally something of a failure as a romance, it's rarely less than a triumph of soulful imagination. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
You may soon forget the specifics of the plot, but you'll always remember the world it came from. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJim Fusilli
At times somber, and now and then dangerously close to self-important, Code 46 is nonetheless a smart, mature film that examines who and what we can be to each other, in a world full of invention and change.
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
But for what is at heart a thriller, Code 46 lacks both energy and tension. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
For at least half the movie, you need a code book a few inches thick to decipher Code 46. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
It all contributes to a vision of the future that is as haunting as it is dispiriting. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The problem with Code 46 is that the movie, filled with ideas and imagination, is murky in its rules and intentions. I cannot say I understand the hows and whys of this future world, nor do I much care, since it's mostly a clever backdrop to a love affair that would easily teleport to many other genres. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJean Oppenheimer
Code 46 lacks the visceral power of "28 Days Later," as well as what might be termed its "gross-out" appeal. Read full review
60
VarietyDavid Stratton
An intriguing but only partly successful co-mingling of film noir and sci-fi. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Late in the day, Code 46 bursts its chemical chains to become a convincingly irrational love story. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Ultimately the sci-fi fillips — human cloning, memory wipes, empathy viruses — are subordinate to screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce's doomed romance. Read full review
60
EmpireGenevieve Harrison
Cinematography, production design and music are all top-notch, but the film largely succeeds because of the leads -- two fine actors at the top of their game. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
I won't spoil the ending, but if Code 46 is to be believed, women will have it even worse in the years to come. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Their doomy romance is supposed to be fated, but it just seems sloggy, certainly not the stuff of myth. A good comedy could be made from this same premise. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
What doesn't spark is the love story. Morton still seems soggy from her "Minority Report" role as a drenched pre-cog. Who wants romance in a future where glum is the word? Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The movie's atmosphere is, in many ways, more interesting than its story. Mr. Robbins and Ms. Morton are not the warmest actors. He can be mannered and smug, and she often seems to beam her performances from a strange, private mental universe. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Winterbottom, who's never been a director with a gift for warmth, can't make this romance come alive. Morton and Robbins are gifted actors, but they seem straitjacketed here, and the film finds it difficult to avoid tedium as their lugubrious relationship unfolds. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
An intriguing, if seriously flawed, film noir. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Though Robbins acts a little stiff, Morton remains stunning throughout, playing a mixture of her wide-eyed, deeply sensitive characters from "Morvern Callar" and "Minority Report." She suggests worlds within worlds. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
Too ambiguous, too meandering to envelop us. It's ambitious work but ultimately cold, distant and difficult to piece together. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
What this dystopia doesn't do is shock. In truth, Code 46 traffics in notions of speculative social fiction that are so familiar by now as to feel disconcertingly normal. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's about unruly passion, but it's icy and cerebral, and Robbins has become a disappointingly tentative actor, playing emotionally straitjacketed men in a self-imposed straitjacket. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This film sounds better than it plays; there are too many echoes of "Alphaville" and of the dreamy drift of "Blade Runner." But the style of the opening and closing credits is pretty spiffy. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
This sci-fi film noir craves a passionate center, an intoxicating core or some pulse that makes us want to keep taking that first step into dark waters, but it leaves us drowning in its quiet tedium instead. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Code 46 is like "Solaris" without the psychological depth and strong acting. The movie is flat, boring, pointless, and nonsensical. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 commits a Code 1 violation: It's boring. Read full review
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