Snow Falling on Cedars
MCA/Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 22, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
15
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
Scott Hicks adapts David Guterson's best-selling novel as if it was poetry.
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
The kind of richly layered film that Hollywood seldom attempts, much less brings off. But it's more than brought off here in grand, solid style and beautifully crafted detail. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Uusually satisfying in the way it unfolds. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Reflective, deliberate, building gradually to a climax that left me touched. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Flawed, but fascinating, this somber adaptation of David Guterson's award-winning novel is sometimes sluggish and difficult to follow, but it's also unexpectedly poetic. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
As good as it is in many ways, the film is not as emotionally gripping as it should be, and comes off as a rather predictable liberal statement. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Fails to completely engage the viewer at the basic level of story. Read full review
62
Mr. ShowbizLarry Terenzi
Hicks is far less interested in resolving dramatic conflicts than in framing shots. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
As cosmetically sanitized revisions of history go: This is as good as it gets. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
Essentially a liberal soap opera. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Too chilly and distanced to build the emotional impact it would like to have. Read full review
50
USA TodayStaff [Not Credited]
Compelling almost in spite of itself, thanks to the impressionistic imagery of cinematographer Robert Richardson. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Exceedingly blurred rendering of a simply told, artful novel. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A prettily photographed yet morbidly gloomy movie. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Ultimately there's something too measured, too controlled in his film. Read full review
50
Film.comRobert Horton
Not a crowd-pleasing, or even audience-oriented, movie; it's a two-hour-plus mood piece. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Has to fight to hold our attention and it doesn't always succeed. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
For all the beauty it struggles to bring forth, Snow Falling on Cedars is painfully prosaic. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Movies made from serious novels are often ridiculed as unworthy of their sources, but this one may be too worthy -- too reverent, too showy, too earnest. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
This badly muddled adaptation of a complex novel chases after Guterson's many skeins and themes with no unifying principle in mind. Read full review
40
Film.comSean Means
You just watch one carefully constructed but emotionally vacant image piled up on another - sometimes with regard to an overall effect, but often just for the sake of style over substance. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Impeccably crafted but dramatically dull. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Never transports you to another place and time, as it intends to. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
The year's most beautiful movie -- and surely one of the dullest. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
The narrative chronology is so heavily hacked about, its tenses so addled and the material so thinly spread across so many characters, one can scarcely keep it straight in one's head without going cross-eyed. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Loaded with facile social themes, opaque characters, pointlessly intricate flashbacks, and inflated technique. Read full review
30
NewsweekDavid Ansen
All shots and no scenes, which is nice for a picture book but deadly for drama. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Admirably high-minded and visually gorgeous but fatally anesthetized by its own grandiosity. Read full review
30
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Trying to act in this movie is like trying to stand upright in a blizzard. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Looks exquisite, but don't bother digging deeper. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
Ultimately groans under the weight of its own quiet gorgeousness. Read full review
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