The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Screen Gems | Release Date: September 9, 2005

6.6	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 165 Ratings

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ChristopherW.Jan 16, 2007

As much as I had hoped this story would captivate me, I simply never found the film adequately engaging. Most of the plot is conveyed through flashbacks that are distressingly deviant in tone and purpose from the present day scenes set in a As much as I had hoped this story would captivate me, I simply never found the film adequately engaging. Most of the plot is conveyed through flashbacks that are distressingly deviant in tone and purpose from the present day scenes set in a courtroom. If the audience is meant to question the forces of evil that may exist in the world or is asked to feel sympathy and compassion for Emily's fate, we are never given a real sense of why any of this really matters. I fully dismiss all supernatural explanations, but I am still intrigued by the notion that there are people who don't. Emily Rose ultimately fails to meaningfully connect to its audience because the screenplay is never quite sure what it wants to do. Is it fright film? Is it allegory? Is it a tale of mental illness? Is it a tale of demonic possession? Is it a courtroom battle between reason and faith? Maybe the film is all of these things. Unfortunately all of these ambiguous angles eventually steal each other's thunder. The film is too cluttered with ideas, but the performances are no less than adequate. In any case, Emily Rose is a mixed bag. Proceed with caution!… Expand

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JimG.Sep 10, 2005

I really wanted this movie to be scary. I wanted to return home at night and feel i had to turn on all the lights and keep my back to the wall. Alas, it was more of a comedy than a horror flick. Some great talent (Linney, Wilkinson, even I really wanted this movie to be scary. I wanted to return home at night and feel i had to turn on all the lights and keep my back to the wall. Alas, it was more of a comedy than a horror flick. Some great talent (Linney, Wilkinson, even Carpenter) did the best they could, but instead of letting us share in the potentially terrifying uncertainty supposed to develop in the mind of defense attorney Erin Bruner (Linney) we are left to little screams of "boo!" at predictable places along the way. The "real life" story gets lost in a fictitous world where dormitories and jails are incredibly poorly lit (how convenient) and where on character scared in the dark bothers to turn on a single light. Instead of considering the plausabilities, as Bruner does in her closing arguments, the team that put this yawn together resorts to parlor tricks. What could have been a psychological thriller primarily because of its tie to a true story ends up a boring laughable cliche of a movie.… Expand