The film's perfectly watchable, but it's never more than that.
Comment
02/09/06
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
29
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:114
Fresh:33
Rotten:81
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: The cinematography is gorgeous, but the movie plays it fast and loose with history and the novel it was adapted from. Mostly, the movie fails because the romance between the leads strains credulity and the story is largely uninvolving.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Academy Award (R) winner Nicolas Cage (City of Angels) and Penelope Cruz (All About My Mother) star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an epic tale about the enduring hope of love and the devastating... [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Christian Bale, John Hurt
Director: John Madden
Reviews for Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Top CriticWhat a droopy, disappointing film this is.
08/10/01
Top CriticObviously, the novel's sprawling, multi-strand structure has been streamlined here, but Madden and screenwriter Slovo have included so much subtext that it's still a remarkably complex film.
12/10/01
Fans will argue it's not as good as the book, but John Madden has delivered a pretty mooch around rustic, tranquil Cephallonia.
08/14/01
Top CriticIn its own right the film works superbly.
04/16/01
Top CriticGorgeous to look at and well-played, it's definitely watchable, yet strangely uninvolving.
10/30/02
I would love to know what kind of emotions were running through those who took part in the Cephalonia romances, and this movie doesn't help me much.
07/23/01
Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz are ill-matched, and the range of heavy accents is distracting.
09/19/08
Top CriticLacking any center, in its pandering heart the movie tries to be something for everyone.
08/27/01
Comes engagingly close to being the assured romantic epic you would want it to be.
05/04/01
Top CriticA dramatic film, I'd wager, Roberto Benigni would enjoy.
08/16/01
While those who loved the book will likely bemoan the desecration of a great work, others will find Captain Corelli's Mandolin passable entertainment for a summer's day.
08/16/01
A surprisingly empty experience.
08/16/01
Una de las más frustrantes y decepcionantes historias románticas que se han hecho en mucho tiempo para la pantalla grande
10/29/01
Handsome as it is, Captain Corelli's Mandolin doesn't really connect.
08/17/01
Captain Corelli's Mandolin will find favor with nearly everyone who appreciates this kind of motion picture.
08/16/01
Cage sounds like an Italian waiter in a "Monty Python" sketch.
08/16/01
A film afraid to let down any part of an audience...often alienates the audience that would have embraced it; this is Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
08/20/01
Under any circumstances, Captain Corelli's Mandolin would be a pretty poor excuse for a movie.
08/17/01
Not as good as it might have been but better than the negative press it has received, which has unfairly doomed it to severe losses at the box office.
11/27/01
Latest News for Captain Corelli's Mandolin
September 15, 2005:
Critical Consensus: Critics Thank "Heaven," But Don't Praise The "Lord"
This week at the movies brings us a supernatural romance ("Just Like Heaven"), a jaded arms dealer ("Lord of War") and two experiments in terror... More...
April 19, 2005:
Get Ready for Another Dose of "Basic Instinct"
You've heard it mentioned for years, but production is (finally) about to get underway on "Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction." A follow-up to Paul Verhoeven's sexual... More...
June 05, 2001:
Initial test screenings failed to induce awe. Universal, hoping for an Oscar contender, bumped the film from its spring release so that Madden could recut it. 
More...
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