The Weight of Water
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: November 1, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
15
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago TribuneLoren King
Despite the deftness with which Bigelow handles the transitions, the modern story never attains the intrigue and tension of the period tale. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The insistent crosscutting suggests there is something powerful between the two stories, but apart from vague connections of jealousy, emotional tension and conversations that constantly dance around the real issues, they don't resonate across the years. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
In the heaving cross-century swirl of the climax, ''Weight'' makes its point: Jealousy is timeless; Hurley is not. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Though it never rises to its full potential as a film, still offers a great deal of insight into the female condition and the timeless danger of emotions repressed. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It's an intelligently made (and beautifully edited) picture that at the very least has a spark of life to it -- more than you can say for plenty of movies that flow through the Hollywood pipeline without a hitch. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
There is so much to admire in The Weight of Water, Kathryn Bigelow's churning screen adaptation of a novel by Anita Shreve, that when the movie finally collapses on itself late in the game, it leaves you in the frustrating position of having to pick up its scattered pieces and assemble them as best you can. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Contains multiple ax murders, lesbianism, incest, a hanging, and a storm at sea -- yet, despite all of this seemingly enticing material, it's a bore. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Involves two mysteries -- one it gives away and the other featuring such badly drawn characters that its outcome hardly matters. But the picture looks great. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Shows glimmers of great drama, but jettisons too much essential cargo (character development, relationships, plot, common sense) in an effort to be lean and clean. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The two stories never come close to meshing the way the filmmaker intended. The result is a well-acted movie that simply doesn't gel.
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The actors are splendid, especially Sarah Polley and Sean Penn, but we never feel confident that these two plots fit together, belong together, or work together. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Whereas "Posession" was relatively light on its feet, this is so overloaded from the outset that it can only sink. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
As a director, Bigelow knows how to get out of the house, but she can be impatient when it comes to humdrum reality. That may account for her interest in Shreve's novel, with its epic tragedies, and it may help to explain the misguided casting of Penn and Hurley, each of whom comes equipped with an oversized personality. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
All the elements are in place for an entertaining murder mystery, but as Bigelow meanders aimlessly back and forth through time, the plot becomes increasingly water-logged. Read full review
50
VarietyEmanuel Levy
Despite recurrent narrative and dramatic problems, each of Bigelow's pics provides a visual treat, and this film is no exception. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The book has been altered in mostly reasonable ways to suit the needs of the screen, but what it loses in the translation is invaluable in comprehending what led someone to pick up an ax and wipe out two-thirds of an island's population. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Penn, in particular, is so subdued he's hardly there, while Hurley's seductive, hyper-articulate Adaline is actually ludicrous, sucking suggestively on ice cubes and reciting poetry like a phone-sex operator pretending to be a book-reading babe. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Lovingly detailed but unaccountably clumsy, obviously ambitious, and unfortunately chintzy. It's also genuinely anachronistic. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Perhaps because the present-day characters are such insufferable twits -- especially the brooding Penn, who's given to tossing around stanzas by Yeats and Dylan Thomas -- the modern story feels like a device, a flimsy entrée into events that would be better accessed directly. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Means to be heavy in terms of psychology, provocation and the examination of emotion, but it sinks like a stone the minute it hits the surface. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyRon Stringer
Provides an unfulfilled promise of pleasure (providing one doesn't cave in to the spectacle of bare-chested Elizabeth Hurley sucking on an ice cube) in this heavy-handed exercise in time-vaulting literary pretension. Read full review
20
Film ThreatRoss Williams
Dreadful. Read full review
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