Sphere
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: February 13, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
10
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New YorkerSarah Kerr
Levinson is terrific at claustrophobia. In fact, this doesn't resemble any of his previous films so much as it does his gripping TV series, "Homicide." Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
While this is no quick-witted treat on a par with Mr. Levinson's ''Wag the Dog,'' it's a solid thriller with showy scientific overtones. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The result is a run-of-the-mill fantasy, competently produced but disappointingly familiar, from its "Forbidden Planet" premise to the digital-clock countdown near the end. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
If the writing and direction carry Sphere most of the way, the actors manage to bring it home. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsDavid Kehr
A choppy, incoherent science-fiction thriller that does no credit to its expensive cast. [13 February 1998, p. 57]
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Keeps you hanging on until the very last moment, not because it's scary, but because you can't believe that's all there is to it. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRussell Smith
Don't trust the impression created by Sphere's intriguing trailers that it has much to do with the awe and terror of direct contact with an advanced alien intelligence. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
While the length and ridiculous finale are a drag, the only thing that stinks about Sphere is its pervasive boys-club snarkiness, especially since Stone is actually good. Levinson has always been a better director of men, but it would be nice if Attanasio could learn how to write a role for a woman that wasn't an embarrassment as well as an insult. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The script is muddled and unsatisfying, as ponderous on its feet as its protagonists are in their heavy diving suits. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An empty shell. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A watered-down take on the sci-fi classic "Solaris," by Stanislaw Lem, which was made into an immeasurably better film by Andrei Tarkovsky. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Filled with visual potential, yet Levinson can't tap it. He's just a whole lot more comfortable trying to tame the human software than the technical hardware. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
By trying to satisfy every kind of viewer, it's possible that Sphere may end up pleasing no one. Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
Waterlogged trip to nowhere. [13 February 1998, p. 3D]
30
NewsweekAndrea C. Basora
With the talent involved in Sphere -- director Barry Levinson, novelist Michael Crichton and actors Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharon Stone--how could it fail? Somehow, it does. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
At the end of Sphere, the three principals -- Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharon Stone -- agree, for the good of humanity, to forget everything that has happened to them in the movie up to that point. This is a pact I can only rush to join, and with exactly the same motive. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The film itself regresses, starting in the present and winding up with a cautionary ending that evokes the hokiest SF movies of the 50s. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
If you've ever wanted to see Queen Latifah fatally attacked by jellyfish at the bottom of the ocean, Sphere is the movie for you. If you're looking for more, you're not going to find it here. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The game cast does what it can -- it's a good thing Schreiber is naturally funny -- but the situation is hopeless. This is one wreck better left unexplored. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
Sphere, an unfathomable chowder of recycled science fiction and undersea thrillers, briefly bubbles with promise only to plummet into the murky depths. Weighed down by inconsistencies and pretensions, the tale founders like a stinky beluga. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Stripped of the pleasures of terror, flattened of grandeur (with a tacked-on coda that fairly groans with storytelling defeat), the movie sinks from the weight of its own heavyhandedness. Read full review
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