Is Anybody There?
Stony Island Entertainment | Release Date: April 17, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
It is also hard not to see remnants of a younger Michael Caine -- beautifully seductive and enigmatic all those years ago in "Alfie." He has said his wife cried when she saw the performance; you understand why. Read full review
80
EmpirePhilip Wilding
Caine leads an impeccable cast in a story that is as touching as it is funny, turning the mundane minutiae of fading lives into a vibrant display. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The sentimentality is held in check by Caine, who rises to the occasion with a bleak, angry performance. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Blending humor and heartbreak in a performance that makes a small movie a richly satisfying one, Caine truly is magic. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
A kid-meets-curmudgeon comedy that transcends its formulaic skeleton thanks both to the veteran actor's charm and a smarter-than-average screenplay. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
While Caine and young Milner make for amusing adversaries, it's nice to see Crowley paying respect to his elders by populating the retirement home with a number of familiar faces, including those belonging to Rosemary Harris, Sylvia Syms and longtime "Coronation Street" resident Thelma Barlow. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
All-too-familiar and schmaltzy territory for both coming-of-age films and movies with elderly actors. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I can't really recommend the film, unless you admire Caine as much as I do, which is certainly possible. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
You don't need a Ouija board to suss out where all this is heading, but Is Anybody There? counteracts its deficiencies -- predictability, sentimentality -- with a healthy dose of dark humor. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
More deft than it first appears, director John Crowley's gentle-but-not-sappy drama features another late-day masterpiece-in-miniature from Michael Caine. Read full review
60
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Caine is magnificent, and the film is worth a look for his contribution alone. But Milner is a promising actor, too, and the pairing of young and old is believable and occasionally very moving. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
The script is always shakier than the performers trying to bring it across, and by the third act, it lets them down completely. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
What balances the movie is Mr. Caine's exceptional portrayal of old age as the accumulation of a lifetime's experience. In his performance the child, the youthful rogue and the forgetful codger all live at once. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Requires us to repress any thoughts about stale material and keep Caine's heartfelt performance front and center. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Writer Peter Harness has based his screenplay on his own childhood experiences, but personal doesn't necessarily translate to fresh. Read full review
45
NPRBob Mondello
All of this is at once predictable and implausible -- a two-hander of a story so overplotted and overpopulated that by the time it's winding up, the question isn't so much Is Anybody There? as it is, "Why on earth are so many bodies here?" Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
No one could save Is Anybody There? from its treacly self and Michael Caine doesn't, but he gives it a grand try. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
On the whole, there are precious few life lessons in Is Anybody There? that haven't been noted before. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNicolas Rapold
Even Crowley, who seems to have a knack with overloaded material, can't quite bring the thing in for a safe landing in all the slush. Read full review
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