It's a dutiful, good-looking slice of heritage cinema so empty that you expect Keira Knightley to show up at any minute.
Comment
10/03/08
Brideshead Revisited (2008)
36
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:4
Rotten:7
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: Suspenseful and beautifully mounted, Brideshead Revisited does an able job condensing Evelyn Waugh’s novel.
Theatrical Release:03-10-2008
Synopsis: Though director Julian Jarrold's adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel BRIDESHEAD REVISITED spans decades and continents, it's a taut film that never drags and can excite contemporary audiences.... [More]
Starring: Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson
Director: Julian Jarrold
Reviews for Brideshead Revisited
1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top CriticKingsley Amis once said his difficulty with Brideshead Revisted was not that these people were behaving badly, but boringly. On the page, that isn't true, but here on the big screen, it turns out to be an insuperable problem.
10/03/08
Top CriticThe repressed victims are beautifully framed by Jarrold. The acting is faultless. But there is no reason why we should be revisiting Brideshead. The melodrama is so damp and overwrought it’s hard to care about these old ghosts.
10/03/08
Top CriticA good film that occasionally verges on greatness, but never quite gets there, this is a respectable adaptation of a much-lauded book that will no doubt find an appreciative audience in time.
10/03/08
Top CriticPerformances are good – Thompson and Gambon impress – but the insipid music is dreadful.
10/03/08
Top CriticOkay for those who dote on ‘classics illustrated’ in the Merchant Ivory line, but not as fluid as all that.
10/03/08
Top Critic[Director] Jarrold seems too often to consciously be making an in-quotation-marks classy picture, much like last year's Atonement, in which the costumes and setting are just so, but the human drama gets lost amid the pictorial pleasantries.
07/25/08
Top Critic[A] lazy, complacent film, which takes the novel's name in vain.
07/25/08
Top CriticA good, sound example of the British period drama; mid-range Merchant-Ivory, you could say.
07/25/08
Top CriticA handsomely appointed but oddly unaffecting adaptation.
07/21/08
Top CriticAllowing auds sufficient retro-aristo-lifestyle sumptuousness for their dollar, yet exhibiting admirable, intelligent directorial restraint, this Brideshead is mainstream arthouse fare par excellence.
07/18/08
Top Critic1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Latest News for Brideshead Revisited
January 27, 2009:
Milk Among GLAAD Nominees 
"Milk" has been a favorite on the awards circuit this year, and its hot streak has been extended courtesy of the GLAAD Media Awards, where it will compete in the Outstanding... More...
October 03, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Does Just That; Whilst Brideshead Revisited Is Resisted
In the UK cinemas this week we have two literary adaptations with Simon Pegg as an irksome hack in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited... More...
July 24, 2008:
Critics Consensus: File The X-Files Under "Disappointing"
This week at the movies, we learn that the truth is out there (The X-Files: I Want to Believe, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and that step-sibling rivalry can be... More...
July 23, 2008:
Matthew Goode Talks Watchmen
He's out promoting Brideshead Revisited, but with a role in Watchmen, Matthew Goode knows what people really want to talk about -- and he was gracious enough to oblige Collider,... More...
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