The Final Cut
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: October 15, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
10
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
So fascinating and has so many implications that it balances out some real flaws in the story. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It's a thoughtful, multi-layered film that falls a bit short of its goals on all fronts. Fans of intellectually challenging science fiction and/or Robin Williams will make up most of its market. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A slick sci-fi thriller that comes complete with enough twists to keep audiences satisfied and enough moral quandaries to keep the thinkers happy. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Williams has extraordinary success in channeling this other person. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
One of the year's few sci-fi films that actually takes itself seriously, and a movie that goes a long way on the strength of its unique premise, steady performances and impressive visual style. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Naim directs The Final Cut as if it were the pilot to a TV series: He teases the audience with all sorts of story threads, focuses on a minor self-contained mystery, and leaves the rest for future episodes that will never come. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
A satisfyingly eerie thriller. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirschling
Quiet and sleepy. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Can't cope with its own weirdness. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Naim's potential is evident, but his debut is a frustrating exercise in missed opportunities. Read full review
40
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Striking visuals help, but pic won't make the final cut with either genre fans, who've seen it all and better before, or the arthouse crowd, who will sneer at pic's cliches. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie becomes so cluttered with concept and design, it fails to get even a toehold on the humanistic subtext it's clearly reaching for. A pallid performance by Mira Sorvino, as Williams' girlfriend and advocate for the fully lived and recorded life, doesn't help. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The core of the movie is a satirical political thriller that juxtaposes dual points of view that could be described in cinematic terms as "It's a Wonderful Life" versus "Chinatown." The digressions should have been pared away. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
The thriller with a promising premise fails to deliver. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Naim's premise has possibilities, but its execution often feels slapdash -- the viewer's sense of deja vu may be even more excessive than the characters'. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Fairly well done but deadly dull futuristic thriller. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Williams gives a performance that's honest and carefully wrought but on some level still a stunt. All that courtliness is wearing him out, and it's wearing us out too. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Muddled and uninteresting. Read full review
30
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Pressing on in grimly introverted "One Hour Photo" mode, Williams only stirs nostalgia for his slapstick days (ghastly '90s roles notwithstanding)--he's such a natural-born ham he manages to overdo understatement. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Cut-and-dried sci-fi thriller. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's not a bad premise for a movie, but writer-director Omar Naim, a 26-year-old Lebanese native making his feature debut, proves equally inept at handling plotting, actors and pacing. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Taxes the patience of even the most willing viewer with its sheer nonsense: It's distractingly illogical. Read full review
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