Sliding Doors
Miramax Films | Release Date: April 24, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
So inventive, confident, and accomplished is the production that it's a shock to learn Sliding Doors is the work of a first-time director-screenwriter. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
One of its most obvious strengths is that it can satisfy many different types of audiences -- those who demand something substantial from their motion pictures, and those who could care less. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
This is the lightest, brightest and tightest film confection to come down the date pike in quite some time. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleHollis Chacona
In a finely realized and multi-layered first film, writer-director Peter Howitt treats us to a clever and urbane exploration of the monumental repercussions of tiny twists of fate. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyTroy Patterson
The story is hackneyed, and the gimmick only doubles the dullardry. Read full review
70
Washington PostRita Kempley
Sliding Doors is frothy stuff, far more complicated in structure than in content. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
That neither tale is especially interesting doesn't matter -- the contrast alone is enough to make Sliding Doors an irresistible romantic fantasy. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
At least entertaining enough to keep you amused for an hour or two. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJack Mathews
It may be Howitt's greatest achievement that we're able to keep the stories straight. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
You're hooked enough to keep watching, even if the characterizations veer toward the two-dimensional. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Ultimately, Sliding Doors becomes a victim of its own cleverness, shutting down all that early promise. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Once the movie throws in a jolting, late-in-the-gameplot twist that could have been borrowed from "City of Angels," it never regains its balance. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A frothy, lightweight romantic comedy that strives to seem richer and more complex than it really is. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Unfortunately, once the freshness of the concept wears off, the same premise starts to feel mechanical and willful. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Sound tricky? It is, and all a little too cutely so, the switches back and forth between realities ever more contrived and eventually tiresome, prompting giggles of relief as the storylines painfully draw towards a soap operatic convergence. Read full review
60
The New YorkerSarah Kerr
Paltrow is as radiant as ever, but she keeps picking parts that focus on technical skills like accents -- she has yet to perform the real star's trick of being herself, and inviting the audience to identify. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Dithery, nattering and a bit long for such a conspicuously airy trifle. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
As we switched relentlessly back and forth between A and B, I found that I wasn't looking forward to either story. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
No doubt this seeming effortlessness was hard-won. Movies this smooth don't happen by accident. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
A romantic sitcom that never transcends its gimmicky plot, but offers enough screen time to Gwyneth Paltrow to satisfy even her most rabid fans. Read full review
40
Film ThreatChris Gore
Kinda makes you think about how important seemingly minor events in life are. Not really. Read full review
40
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Unduly smug about its flashy conceit and otherwise utterly empty, the film plays like lobotomized Kieslowski, less Blind Chance than dumb luck. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The gimmick behind the screenplay is clever, but the filmmakers don't rise to the challenge they've set themselves, merely spinning two unimaginative stories for the price of one. Read full review
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