Stone
Overture Films | Release Date: October 8, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
11
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Time OutDavid FearOct 20, 2010
All ye searching for Primal Fear redux, abandon hope. The character-driven drama he (Curran) offers viewers instead is something far more complex, cracked and unique for an American movie boasting big-name stars: an unblinking glare into the abyss. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesOct 21, 2010
Mostly this is a tense, portentous, and provocative piece. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonOct 22, 2010
Stone isn't for everyone. But for all its shortcomings, it is courageously original. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyOct 21, 2010
I was with the movie until its head-scratcher of an ending, too oblique for its own good. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 20, 2010
So few Hollywood movies go here that this one's oddly welcome, even in its most turgid moments, of which there are many. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOct 20, 2010
There's a taste of Southern Gothic here, even though this story is set in Michigan. The incendiary mix of religion, sex and crime threatens to ignite every time Stone tries to turn the interogations back on Mabry. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 20, 2010
Ultimately, Stone is a haunting film about what it feels like to be really and truly lost. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 20, 2010
Genuinely odd in its mixture of bluntness and indirection, screenwriter Angus MacLachlan's study in biblical temptation is saved from its own heavy-handedness by a fine quartet of actors. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 20, 2010
De Niro is so good at playing a man who has essentially emasculated himself because of fear of his anger, so that sex and anger may be leashed in precisely the opposite way, as in "Raging Bull." And Norton, the puppetmaster - it may not even be freedom he requires, but simply the pleasure of controlling others to obtain it. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 20, 2010
Norton, too, keeps us guessing, though his pseudo-tough-guy line readings (and cornrowed hair) are initially distracting. But his scenes with De Niro -- who fills every twitch or glance with Jack's long-buried guilt -- are the guts of the movie. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasOct 20, 2010
At its best, the film works as a morally freighted film noir, with Jovovich particularly good as a breathy femme fatale who seduces De Niro with a mere change in inflection. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn LevyOct 20, 2010
There are hints lately that De Niro is trying to build a fourth, restorative act to his wayward film career, and he brings some real fire, without which Stone would be helpless. Read full review
65
MovielineMichelle OrangeOct 20, 2010
Because the film is overproduced and unconvincing in telegraphing its several gestural themes, its excellent lead performances get lost in what feels like an aesthetic tug of war over what a movie should be, and do. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 20, 2010
The craftsmanship is impeccable as is the acting, but the storytelling is where the movie falls down. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineBarbara GoslawskiOct 20, 2010
Stone is highly charged and vibrant, and pits Edward Norton against Robert De Niro for two utterly electrifying performances. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezOct 21, 2010
Stone isn't the straightforward thriller it appears to be, but the alternative turns out to be dull and lifeless. At least the title is apt: Like a rock, Stone has no pulse. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeOct 20, 2010
Though nearly sabotaged by the ridiculous sexual subplot at its center, this soul-searching drama works best at the character level, couching insights about sin and forgiveness under the guise of conventional genre entertainment. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 20, 2010
Say this about Stone: When it's good, it's very good. And this twisty, atmospheric drama is at its best when Edward Norton takes center screen as the title character. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 20, 2010
Nothing is etched in anything remotely resembling a hard surface in Stone. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 20, 2010
The results prove disappointing, simultaneously over the top and underwhelming. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyNick SchagerOct 20, 2010
At odds with its own lofty and base instincts, Stone ultimately channels neither compellingly. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenOct 20, 2010
No, the trouble isn't with them but with a screenplay (by Angus MacLachlan) that loads their characters with too much symbolic baggage and then points them off in obscure directions. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOct 20, 2010
Milla Jovovich slinks cartoonishly as Stone's seductive wife, on a mission to compromise the lawman. Lordy. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttOct 20, 2010
There is not a credible moment in this overly calculated melodrama. Read full review
40
NPRIan BuckwalterOct 20, 2010
This is a film about people who are lost, and the filmmakers draw a direct line between their characters' existential wanderings and the religious obsessions they find for themselves. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithOct 20, 2010
A movie steeped in sin that squats awkwardly in a cinematic purgatory between tawdry and talky. Read full review
25
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 27, 2010
If only one character in Stone reacted as someone in his position would to the preposterous situation at hand, the movie would be 15 minutes long. Read full review
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