Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz are ill-matched, and the range of heavy accents is distracting.
Comment
09/19/08
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 CriticThe film's perfectly watchable, but it's never more than that.
02/09/06
Top CriticI 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
What a droopy, disappointing film this is.
08/10/01
Top CriticFans 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
Obviously, 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
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08/30/01
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/25/04
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10/18/08
Pearl Harbor for the English Patient crowd -- a movie that reduces history, as well as eros, to a postcard.
08/16/01
Top CriticCage fumbles through the scenes with an Itralian accent reminiscent of his Moonstruck days.
08/16/01
Top CriticA major motion picture event trying to break free.
08/26/01
A sweet but flawed wartime romance with enough gorgeous scenery and quaint villagers to choke a horse.
08/16/01
There are three ingredients missing here: character, character, and character.
08/16/01
Not flashy enough for Hollywood nor deep enough for an art film.
08/17/01
As wartime weepers go, Captain Corelli's Mandolin has a lot of pluck.
08/17/01
Very little about Mandolin is not in some way disappointing.
08/16/01
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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