IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

Register | Log In | What is RT?
It's our 10th birthday, so you get presents!
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
 
MOVIES / ON DVD / LAUREL CANYON
Laurel Canyon

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
See Pictures
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Laurel Canyon (2003)

67%
83%
77%
N/A
N/A
N/A
67 %
Reviews Counted: 107 Fresh: 72  Rotten:35 Average Rating: 6.4/10
 
Consensus: Though the movie itself is flawed, McDormand is fantastic as Jane.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Synopsis: Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The canyon is notable for its varied residents through the years and has served, and continues to, as the... Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The canyon is notable for its varied residents through the years and has served, and continues to, as the home to many rock stars, musicians, performers, producers, and the like. Among its current residents are Jane (Frances McDormand), a legendary record producer, currently producing an album for a British band whose lead singer Ian (Allesandro Nivola) is her much younger lover. Jane and the band are creating the album in her Laurel Canyon house where she has a recording studio. Jane’s son Sam (Christian Bale) and his fiancée Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are both recent graduates of Harvard medical school. Conservative, solid and serious, the couple find it necessary to move to Los Angeles to complete their studies: Sam is completing his Residency at the renowned Hausman Neuropsychiatric Institute, while Alex is intent on completing her dissertation on Drosophilia Genomics. Jane has offered her Laurel Canyon home for them to stay in, promising that it will be vacant. But when Sam and Alex arrive Jane and the Band are still working in Jane’s home recording studio to complete the album. Sam and Alex begrudgingly stay at Jane’s house until they can find an alternative place to live. Once in the house, however, things begin to slowly unravel. Alex’s attraction to Jane’s and Ian’s freewheeling lifestyle and Sam’s hesitancy about renewing a relationship with his wayward mother as well as his growing attraction to fellow medical resident Sara (Natascha McElhone) slowly fill the house with tension and doubt... -- © 2002 Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, Alessandro Nivola

Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko
Producer: Susan A. Stover, Jeff Levy-Hinte
Composer: Craig Wedren

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 7, 2004

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.85
  • Pan & Scan

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • DTS - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Lisa Cholodenko - Director
  • Trailers
  • Featurette

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Cast and Crew Bios

DVD-Rom Features:

  • Weblink

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/15/04
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
11/26/03
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
Ratings Image
2/5

No matter how many times she pushes her specs up her nose Beckinsale is never going to be believable as a nerd. Bale as a psychiatrist: it’s easier to envisage him as Batman.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/14/03
Annette Dasey
Teletext
Ratings Image
3/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
11/11/03
Jamie Russell
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
09/07/03
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
5/5

It pulled me in with its friendly, inclusive, nonjudgmental appraisal of human nature.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Despite a great ensemble of actors, it will leave you hanging from a cliff.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/13/04
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald
Ratings Image
N/A

'We're left with a film that doesn't create enough interest in what went on in those Laurel Canyon backyards to justify pulling over and watching.'

Full Review | comment Comment
03/03/04
Matt Kelemen
Las Vegas CityLife
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
02/25/04
Lori Allen
Zap2it.com
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
10/27/03
Sunday Times (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Frances McDormand lets loose in a terrific new role as record producer, mother, and corrupter of curious girls.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/24/03
Marcy Dermansky
About.com
Ratings Image
N/A

'Laurel Canyon' is a little dangerous, a bit unconventional and very seductive.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/04/03
Frank Wilkins
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
2.5/4

...essentially worth checking out if only for the performances and Cholodenko's admittedly steady directorial hand.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/20/03
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/16/03
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3.5/4

Real people, real situations. Laurel Canyon is a keeper.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/03/03
David N. Butterworth
Movie Boeuf
Ratings Image
N/A

McElhone and Bale are more overt, acting mostly with rigid faces, tousled hair and at least 64 shiny, well-displayed teeth.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/06/03
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer
Ratings Image
N/A

From the choice of L.A.’s musical bohemia to finding the right tension in each scene, director Lisa Cholodenko has hit another home run.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/04/03
Charlie Brown
FilmStew.com
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums

REEL_REVIEWER
LAUREL CANYON - Contrived SoCal saga may never make it out of the valley???
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/28/05


REEL_REVIEWER
LAUREL CANYON - Contrived SoCal saga may never make it out of the valley???
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/28/05


REEL_REVIEWER
LAUREL CANYON - Contrived SoCal saga may never make it out of the valley???
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/28/05


REEL_REVIEWER
LAUREL CANYON - Contrived SoCal saga may never make it out of the valley???
by: REEL_REVIEWER 5/28/05


Laurel Canyon is a whole lot of fun
by: TATTS 10/30/03
all

Pictures

all

News

Critical Consensus: "Flags" Flies High; "The Prestige" Is Magic; "Flicka" Is A Pretty Good Ride; "Marie Antoinette" Spared Critical Guillotine
posted by Tim Ryan October 19, 2006
This week at the movies, we've got a complex tale of heroism (Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers,"...

Around the Network

• Laurel Canyon at Rotten Tomatoes
• Laurel Canyon at IGN
• Laurel Canyon at AskMen
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.