The Sea
Palm Pictures | Release Date: May 16, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
12
Negative:
3

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
The Sea isn't just brooding Scandinavian domestic tragedy, a lesser Bergman-Ibsen pastiche. It's also hilarious and rowdy, and it plays with our sympathies and expectations in such surprising ways, with such brilliant actors, it's easy to see why it won the equivalent of eight Icelandic Oscars. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A particularly strong family drama, and the Icelandic setting helps, adding a touch of the exotic. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
For the most part the eruption of repressed anger is blindly destructive. There's little healing to be found in the bitter melodrama, but there is a small sense of triumph as the children face up and move on. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Filmmaker Kormákur orchestrates all this with broad strokes and winking intrigue, although the line between hambone melodrama and irony-tinged satire gets walked across a few too many times. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The loveliest moments put both politics and theatrics aside, conveying the strange beauty of a hard life involving little else than fish, water, and gray sky. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Old family secrets and fresh entanglements snake through the intricate plot like the tendrils of a particularly poisonous strain of ivy that flourishes only in the hot-house atmosphere of tiny towns, whatever the outside temperature. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The film's flamboyant portrayals of characters you love to hate have a malicious comic edge. If ever there were a movie to gladden the hearts of misanthropes, this is it. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
An exploration of the way the sins of the father trickle down to his offspring, is dense with quirky characters and subplots all woven into a rather heavy-handed meditation on the evils of globalization. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
As family reunion trauma flicks go, The Sea is by no means up to the standards of Thomas Vinterberg's "The Celebration," but it does make clear that Kormákur is a director whose evolution will be interesting to watch. Read full review
60
Village VoiceLeslie Camhi
Baltasar Kormákur's wacky version of "King Lear," set in an Icelandic village where virtually everyone plays the fool. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
There's a handful of good scenes (some of the vengeance that's wreaked is priceless) and it's generally well-played. But the soul of the thing isn't distinct enough from the bitterness it portrays. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
You may have to be from Iceland to take dialogue like ''You can't freeze love like a gutted fish'' with a straight face. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Ultimately more ambitious than enlightening. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderFred Camper
The camera goes limp during the climactic emotional blowout--unimaginative and static compositions leave the characters yelling at each other in a vacuum. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
Though solidly crafted, with a host of well-etched performances, film is unable to establish a consistent, engaging tone. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Overcrowded and overwritten, with too many shrill denunciations and dramatic surprises; we don't like the characters and, worse, they don't interest us. Read full review
50
PremiereAddison MacDonald
Overburdened with themes and symbolism, Baltasar Kormákur’s latest effort seems more apt for a term paper than a movie review. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Undone by its own malignant contempt for every one of its characters, except a pathologically candid grandmother who single-handedly kept my chin from dropping to my ankles. Even Bergman would be scrambling for his Prozac. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
There’s not a sympathetic character in the bunch. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
It's hard to imagine anyone enjoying it except for those seeking to see people up there on the screen unhappier than themselves. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Dysfunction seeps from every pore of this family, and the anger and ugliness of the characters overwhelm not just the story but the movie's stunning National Geographic location. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There's a little too much over-the-top drama, as well as superfluous detail, in this Icelandic film. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The acidic Shakespearean family drama The Sea can't be faulted for lack of ambition. It can, however, be faulted for a fatal lack of heart. Read full review
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