In the Cut
Screen Gems | Release Date: October 22, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
19
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
A disjointed, sometimes fascinating mélange of moods, associations and effects. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Ryan is raw and remarkably good, but the film's real star is New York. Draped in post-9/11 anxiety and brimming with a free-floating fear, the city hasn't appeared this threatening since the '70s. Read full review
60
EmpireEmma Cochrane
Romantic images are subverted, the sex scenes are graphic and desperate. It's less grim than Susanna Moore's original novella, but the foreshadowing that all is not right is in everything, from the music to the dialogue. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
An intermittently gorgeous and evocative film that's so taken with its trangressively bloody and erotic content, it neglects such fussy niceties as coherent plotting and the creation of characters of middling intelligence, plausible psychology or sympathetic nature. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Emerges as a frustrating cop-out. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
If your reason for seeing In the Cut is to watch America's sweetheart stripped bare, you'll get what you're looking for. On the other hand, if you're looking for a good movie, this one will disappoint. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Beautifully crafted and highlighted by an arresting change-of-pace perf by Meg Ryan as an English teacher erotically awakened by a homicide detective. But the story's unpalatable narrative holes and dramatic missteps will hold sway over the pic's better qualities. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Though the oppressive artiness makes the early scenes fairly ridiculous, the director's odd methods add rare tension to the climax, as it becomes evident that the finale won't be so predictable in Campion's hands. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Aggressively grim and gory. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
A disappointing erotic thriller from director Jane Campion that amounts to an implausible update on "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The result, sadly, is a mess. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
An OK mood piece but story-hungry murder mystery that flubs its whodunit fundamentals. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
More ambitious, but also much harder to swallow than the average Hollywood hack effort, In the Cut is a muddle of thriller and art-house phantasmagoria. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Ultimately never slices things as sharply as it attempts, but it’s definitely a cut above. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
At once belabored and muddled movie, whose dreamy visual style and daring sexual material can't elide glaring inconsistencies in tone, plot and logic. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Campion is dabbling in several different types of movie here: police procedural, film noir, romantic melodrama, sex fantasia. None really succeeds. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Isn't just a movie about decapitation; it's a decapitated movie. It has no idea where its head is at. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A remarkably dislikable film, long on atmosphere -- I admired Dion Beebe's brooding cinematography -- and desperately short on vitality.
40
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
Campion and company may like to think they've made something provocative, moody and new but it's really just "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" with extra nuts. Read full review
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