Narrative wobbles a tremulous line between heartfelt and glib, keeping just within the confines of realistic emotion and credulity.
A Home at the End of the World (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:109
Fresh:53
Rotten:56
Average Rating:5.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Bobby and Jonathan have been inseparable since they were teenagers in suburban Ohio. Bobby has suffered many losses for someone so young, and is starved for love and affection. Awkward teen... Bobby and Jonathan have been inseparable since they were teenagers in suburban Ohio. Bobby has suffered many losses for someone so young, and is starved for love and affection. Awkward teen Jonathan has a nice family, and a particularly wonderful mother (Sissy Spacek). The boys not only become as close as brothers, but they also experiment sexually. The two lose touch, but find each other again in their mid-20s in the early 1980s, when Bobby (Colin Farrell) moves to New York and joins Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) at the apartment he shares with Clare (Robin Wright Penn), an aging hippie. Bobby and Clare become lovers, however, Clare had planned to have a child with Jonathan, who is now openly gay and who is still interested in Bobby, and to whom Clare used to be attracted. The trio becomes its own unique entity, questioning the traditional definitions of family and love, and dealing with the complications of their love triangle. Based on the novel of the same name by Michael Cunningham, who also wrote the screenplay and who was the recipient of the Pulitzer prize, this film marks the debut of director Michael Mayer. Erik Smith plays Bobby as a teenager, and Harris Allen plays the teenage Jonathan. [More]
Starring: Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, Sissy Spacek
Starring: Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, Sissy Spacek
Director: Michael Mayer
Director: Michael Mayer
Screenwriter: Michael Cunningham
Producer: Tom Hulce, John Hart, Pamela Koffler, Hunt Lowry, Katie Roumel, Jeff Sharp, Christine Vachon, John Wells
Composer: Duncan Sheik
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for A Home at the End of the World
Cunningham's 1990 novel makes an assured, if not entirely satisfying, transition to the big screen in this terrifically acted exploration of the bonds that transcend traditional notions of family.
Far from being groundbreaking independent cinema, A Home feels like just another prefab production.
Mayer, a theater director making his film debut, has a sure hand with the finely calibrated emotions of his ensemble, and the intricately knotted chain of love, dependence, and dissatisfaction that twines them together.
... everything about this movie was so contrived and it feels so written.
The first third of "A Home At The End Of The World" is simply wonderful.
Farrell's portray of Bobby and author Cunningham's sadistic story, ultimately deep six A Home at the End of the World.
Attempts to cram too much information into a 95-minute feature. Fortunately, there is enough that is exquisitely good to make up for many of its narrative downfalls.
With no overblown pretensions...tells an engaging story about sympathetic folks finding their way in a never over-simplified world.
Would it help if I called it the year’s worst must-see film? Didn’t think so.
A Home at the End of the World can get a tad long, but its beautiful story and spectacular performances allow it that small mute faux pas.
An intriguing look at an unconventional definition of family, whose members don't speak in Hollywood clichés.
A perfect example of how a top-flight cast can compensate for unimaginative filmmaking.
The problem is not just that Bobby is hard to believe but that he's not interesting enough to make us want to believe him.
Farrell and his equally fine co-stars Wright and Roberts comprise an embattled but fiercely loving trio whom you care about deeply, even if A Home at the End of the World ultimately fails to realize the promise of its absorbing first half.
A peculiarly bloodless variation on Jules and Jim suffused with the kind of pretentious gentility that some critics will mistake for seriousness.
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