Ondine
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: June 4, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
This movie is a one-of-a-kind experience – blarney carried to rhapsodic heights. Read full review
90
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
Ondine suggests that coincidence and magic are often the same thing. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePam Grady
Ondine is Injected with a heavy dose of magic and has a lot going for it: an endearing performance from star Colin Farrell, Christopher Doyle's evocative cinematography and a captivating-if thin-story. Read full review
80
NPRElla Taylor
Ondine plumbs the country's most resonant fairy tale and plays impishly along the borders of postcard fantasies of Ireland. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Mostly, though, Ondine deftly demonstrates just how far we'll reach for any promise of relief from life's hardships, in whatever form -- magic or plain dumb luck -- it arrives. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Pretty magical. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Well, if Jordan believes he's made an excellent film, that's one thing, but the fact is it's a minor, though mostly enjoyable, one. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Ondine is dipped in whimsy and might have drifted out to sea, but it's bounded on four sides by love stories -- between a father and a daughter, a man and a mermaid, an actor and his co-star, and a director and his country. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Ondine looks heavy and it ends up feeling a little slight, but between those two extremes there's a beguiling siren song of a movie about the way the unexpected has a way of intruding on even the most fatalistic lives. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The road is rocky when the story speeds up to take care of business, with the end a mad dash to tie up loose ends. Still, there is enough saving grace on these craggy shores to let the mists and the legends roll in and envelop you for a while. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
This redemptive tale set against southwest Ireland's moody seascape holds its tangible charms. Read full review
70
TimeMary Pols
Farrell's work as Syracuse is understated to the point that some may find it unremarkable -- but it's a beautifully confident performance, an irony given that he constructs his portrayal of Syracuse around the concept of humility. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A decidedly specialized affair that will appeal only to certain tastes, but there's plenty to appreciate if you let it seep in. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKarina Longworth
Ciphers aside, Ondine effectively sustains a mood of a hazy melancholy most affecting when nothing much is happening. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid Hughes
Funny, whimsical and as warming as a big bowl of Irish stew. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith Uhlich
The intention outweighs the execution, though there are still pleasures to be had. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Neil Jordan's Ondine has a split personality. It starts promisingly as a fantasy but ends disappointingly as a thriller. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
If this movie were a human being, it would be intelligent and sincere but so depressed as to be unable to get out of bed without a forklift. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. Farrell and Mr. Doyle continue to hold your gaze, even as Mr. Jordan's screenplay sets your mind to wandering. There is, as noted, a wisp of a tale tucked into this film, one that, as the story wears on, becomes ponderously weighed down with melodramatic filler and even some halfhearted genre action. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStaff (Not credited)
Jordan's screenplay aims for a romanticism that the beautiful but stiff Bachleda is unable to fulfill. And the ending, which injects the film's dreamy sensibility with an ugly note of realism, crashes over everything like a frigid wave. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Why didn't Mr. Jordan spend more time grounding his self-enchanted script in some semblance of reality? Unlike "Splash," this film finally goes plop. Read full review
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