Laurel Canyon
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: March 7, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A romantic comedy of grace notes and mini-epiphanies -- mini, that is, except for Ms. McDormand's Jane, who is memorable to the max.
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Cholodenko takes us inside a bohemian hive where everyone buzzes around the Queen Bee. McDormand is superb. Likewise Bale and Nivola. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Reconfirms the filmmaker's talent as an acutely observant chronicler of upscale bohemian subcultures. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Frances McDormand plays the record-producing mother with the nativity that talent makes possible. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
McDormand has never been better, but all the performances are interestingly nuanced, including Natascha McElhone's as one of Bale's fellow psychiatric interns. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
This is a plum of a part, and McDormand gorges herself. [10 March 2003, p. 94]
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Cholodenko and her actors pull it off; the performances here are like a wary ballet, ruled as much by the mysterious magnetic attractions and repulsions these characters feel for one another as by anything so dully explicable as psychology or standard rules of social conduct. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The story of Laurel Canyon doesn't ultimately live up to the technical polish Cholodenko brings to it, but it's worth a visit if you want to check out the latest emotional vibes emanating from the Hollywood Hills. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Bale, one of the most intriguing actors of his generation, plays a young man rebelling against his liberal upbringing with a mix of bemusement and lost-puppy anguish, making this film as much about mothers and sons as struggling couples. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Compelling tale of a free-spirited record producer, played with perfect pitch by Frances McDormand. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Ultimately lacks the narrative muscle that could have made it great. But it does have McDormand, who is great in this, her best showcase since "Fargo." Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneLoren King
Laurel Canyon itself feels musical: languid, rich in color and light, and deliciously sensual. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Thanks to the performances and the general looseness of the script, the movie is more appealing than it has any business being. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
In its milieu and parallel story lines, the film suggests a bantam "Short Cuts," but for better and for worse, this is Altman without the razored edge. Cholodenko elicits appealing performances from her ensemble, but she never pushes their characters anywhere there isn't an easy out. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The cast is as likable as it is improbable (especially Nivola, who all but steals the movie as the charmingly decadent rocker). Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Authenticity is strangely lacking in Laurel Canyon, although Cholodenko’s exquisite eye for framing remains uncorrupted. Laurel Canyon is often visually captivating. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Frances McDormand rescues this role from the throes of cliche. It's as though drippy dialogue and sappy rock were a small price to pay for a part that lets her flash her breasts, get stoned, and join in a three-way. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The performers are all keen at expressing different variations on uptightness and with-itness. And McDormand is sensational. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Inasmuch as Cholodenko has an agenda in her two movies so far -- what appears to be a lesbian-positive theme of openness to experimentation and its accompanying emotional costs -- she's found a model in McDormand's portrayal of Jane. Read full review
60
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
McDormand is the best thing about Laurel Canyon. She's also the most unfortunate victim of a film that seems unable or unwilling to give even its most intriguing and compulsively watchable character her due. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The spectacle of pretty people floating languidly across the screen notwithstanding, Laurel Canyon is short on conviction and long on contrivance. McDormand, however, has a ball. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Laurel Canyon lacks the sense of risk that "High Art" had, and in doing so, emasculates its apparent protagonist in Sam. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The story is less a sustained narrative than a series of scenes. But personal dynamics are the main event, and McDormand's powerhouse performance alone compensates for many minor deficiencies. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Occasionally, the film invites a more dynamic touch than the careful slowness Cholodenko carries over from "High Art." But that same care gives the movie a seductive quality that would have been lost in a more hurried approach. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Like a late ’60s satire played embarrassingly seriously. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The characters are tedious, as are the fussy performances of Bale and Beckinsale. Everything good in this rock & roll fantasy belongs to the sexy, worldly-wise McDormand, who makes Jane ripe, real, and irresistible. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Not a successful movie--it's too stilted and pre-programmed to come alive--but in the center of it McDormand occupies a place for her character and makes that place into a brilliant movie of its own. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
An underdevelopment of a bad idea that is entertaining, so far as it is, because of McDormand's totally unselfconscious performance. This wonderful actress is never less than interesting, and even as a caricature of a stereotype, she's fun to watch. Read full review
50
Film ThreatMerle Bertrand
Rife with predictability and lacking any originality whatsoever, the lackluster Laurel Canyon demonstrates about as much depth as one of Ian's pop songs. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Frances McDormand deserves much better than Lisa Cholodenko’s flat-footed Laurel Canyon...McDormand alone makes the picture worth seeing: Her character is a rash combo of steel and dissolution and regret. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Worst of all is the movie's finale, a noble attempt to avoid an overly-pat conclusion that strays too far in the opposite direction. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyMark Olsen
Cholodenko's new film relies on easy caricature over true character such that the film fails to build emotional momentum or resonance. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Cholodenko doesn't put much activity into her languid movies. Watching them is like sagging back on the couch at a party that has run past 2 a.m., knowing we can leave -- surely nothing exciting is yet to happen? -- but basking lazily in the pleasant atmosphere of half-intoxicated flirtations. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The plot is straightforward and predictable to the point of painfulness. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The dramatic trajectory is frightfully obvious, the characters tediously one-dimensional, the dialogue banal. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A clumsy package of clichés. Read full review
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