Two hours of senselessness and overkill, decked out in lurid, bad-trip colors.

That gift doesn't desert him [Crowe] in Elizabethtown, but he clutters his movie with plot elements that confuse the focus, the central character and, ultimately, I suspect, Crowe himself.

High-gloss trash but compulsively watchable.

Richard Jenkins gives the standout supporting performance, worthy of Oscar consideration, as Josey's father, a miner unable to conceal his anger at his daughter for having a child out of wedlock and, now, creating dissension at his workplace.

Heart-wrenching.

Painfully sincere but tired.

An emotionally satisfying example of a genre whose sketchiness can be off-putting.

Like most films in the genre, it's sweet, sincere and predictable.

Almost satirical.

A treat for anyone who's passionate about films or who's ever wanted to learn more about them.

An entertaining slice of American political and cultural history.

The people who made this film -- particularly the ones responsible for the story and the dialogue -- should look no further when trying to understand why In Her Shoes lands with such little impact. The characters seem authentic -- until the chick-flick template distorts them.

Big, loud, glossy and entertaining.

Lots of people will leave screenings of this movie in disgust -- and laughter is the last thing they will hear on the way out.

Like its singular central character, Before the Fall stands out from the pack.

Mocks without achieving the level of good satire.

An entertaining and perceptive film with one big problem.

Very imaginative and can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.

A triumph that goes well beyond Hoffman's tour de force performance.

The film will have to settle for a bogey rather than a par. Still, some hyperbole is warranted, like "Safest Movie to Take the Entire Family To."

The makers of Into the Blue know what the audience wants. And they deliver a little bit more.

As challenging as it must have been to pilot Joss Whedon's space opera from the TV junk pile to the big screen, the finished product is a triumph.

The message is muddled.

Richly inventive.

A heartwarming, inspirational tale.

Tries too hard to be even-handed.

An interesting film, and while it is not entirely successful (and at times most puzzling), it achieves a certain poignancy.

A slow seduction.