It's a painful prospect, to be sure, and Sheriff, in particular, insists he's no hero, but the next hour or so of handwringing conjures little suspense.
Comment
06/24/06
Return to Paradise (1998)
70
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:30
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Tony is a successful architect, ready to be married. Sherriff is a devil-may-care limo driver. Two years prior, they had been in Malaysia living the high life with a third buddy, Lewis. Lewis... [More]
Starring: Anne Heche, Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad
Director: Joseph Ruben
Reviews for Return to Paradise
Top CriticThe plot carries surprises right up until the last, but with no cheap shocks or selling out, only painful inevitabilities.
01/01/00
No review available.
07/12/02
Vince Vaughn finally gives a performance putting him in the serious actor category, Joaquin Phoenix is notable and Anne Heche is believable as the impassioned attorney fighting for the life of her client.
12/06/05
Phoenix, who was memorable in To Die For, is unearthly here as a man reduced to a wraith by miserable prison conditions and hopelessness. As an actor, he seems to have abandoned his body entirely in order to communicate only through his spirit.
01/01/00
The real discovery ... is Vince Vaughn, who didn't make as much of a splash in Jurassic Park: The Lost World as he was expected to. Now he does.
01/01/00
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01/01/00
Surprisingly effective, if highly unlikely, drama of the soul and the conscience.
01/01/00
Vaughn and Heche are the keys to giving this dilemma a human face, and both are excellent.
01/01/00
...It all seems to be a predictable formula-driven film instead of one filled with an unpredictable raw energy.
01/01/00
The acting is generally good -- Vaughn is very convincing as a man forced to make a difficult decision, while Joaquin Phoenix even more convincingly plays a man condemned to die.
07/28/04
Director Joseph Ruben has crafted a riveting morality play you won't soon forget.
01/01/00
Return to Paradise is precisely the kind of film I tend to like; one which could go many ways, and one which, if done right, could have a true and profound moral. And it didn't dissapoint.
05/22/03
What one ambitious person does in New York City affects the deliberations of a judge in Malaysia.
03/02/02
While Return to Paradise headlines several surprises, the grandest revelation is Anne Heche.
01/01/00
The best performance in the film belongs to Anne Heche, who continues to impress with her range. Her work here is passionate, and she effectively conveys the inner conflict of a woman whose divided loyalties tear at her soul.
01/01/00
Though the clock ticks relentlessly enough to sustain the story's tension, the film finally seems to be a character study in search of a gripping plot.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe characters aren't very sympathetic. That's not because of a lack of effort from the cast so much as heavy-handed direction and laughable dialogue.
01/01/00
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