The Monkey's Mask
Strand Releasing | Release Date: July 27, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
5
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
In directing The Monkey's Mask from Annie Kennedy's adaptation of Dorothy Porter's novel-in-poetry, Samantha Lang displays considerable style and assurance, with Porter and McGillis giving beautifully nuanced portrayals. Read full review
90
New Times (L.A.)David Ehrenstein
Think "Basic Instinct" with brains, and you've got it. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
What makes the film compelling is the filmmakers' ability to blend a studied (occasionally academic) dissection of cultural and sexual decadence with a potboiler plot. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Less elliptical and more down-and-dirty than Lang's interesting debut film, ''The Well,'' this one tumbles through Sydney's academic and alternative poetry circles and is built around a lesbian private eye.
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Builds and sustains considerable interest through its unexpected characterizations, unusual milieu and atmospheric style. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
It isn't quite like watching a train wreck -- it's more perverse and anti-climactic -- but it's as hard to shake once it's passed. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Kelly McGillis quite literally as you've never seen her -- as a manipulative, icy sex goddess in whose bedroom there are no limits. Read full review
60
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Makes for compulsive viewing.
50
Chicago TribuneLoren King
It is awkward and dull, a capital crime for an aspiring noir.
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
McGillis, though, is the film's worst enemy. Her wooden attempts to recreate Kathleen Turner circa 1981 undermine too many scenes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
Poetry, lesbian sex and murder might be a killer combination if a deadly pace weren't included in the mix. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The plot itself isn't really strong enough to stand alone. And that leaves the film an essentially conventional whodunit, if one with a rather unconventional sleuth at its center. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
Remarkably sluggish and not particularly suspenseful.
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The Monkey's Mask is filmed with an eye toward an arthouse sheen, although Lang's dramatic pacing is sluggish and dull. Read full review
20
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Instead of suspense, there is confusion; instead of intrigue, a lot of inexplicable confrontation among characters whose significance is not so much enigmatic as obscure. Read full review
10
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The film seems dimly aware of its own ridiculousness, but it lacks the constitution for self-mockery. Read full review
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