Cristofer packs so many foreboding clues into the first half-hour that a blind, deaf, and illiterate Swahili-speaker could sense there's something amiss.
Comment
08/03/01
Original Sin (2001)
12
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:90
Fresh:11
Rotten:79
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: Laughably melodramatic, Original Sin features bad acting, bad dialogue, and bad plotting.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Late nineteenth century Cuba. Dawn. At the docks, Luis (Antonio Banderas) waits for his American mail-order bride. But, his wait seems to be in vain. Then, magically, she appears--Julia (Angelina... [More]
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Jack Thompson, Thomas Jane
Director: Michael Cristofer
Reviews for Original Sin
The combination of a smoldering Banderas and a simmering Jolie generates as much heat as a 40-watt bulb.
08/03/01
Top CriticThis strained period thriller is definitely on the lame side.
08/03/01
Top CriticIt's hard to keep a straight face just thinking of Mr. Banderas and Ms. Jolie in the same shot, but Original Sin will bore the giggles right out of you.
08/03/01
Top CriticIt's an exuberant example of what it is -- a bodice-ripping murder 'meller' -- and at that it gets a passing grade.
08/03/01
Top CriticDirector Michael Christofer falls victim to the frivolous trappings of...pulp carnality, letting the tawdry get the better of him...
08/03/01
Even with all its delicious atmosphere, the movie is just spectacularly uninvolving.
08/02/01
The only real joy in this deliriously awful film is that the wacky, bosom-heaving, lip-smacking, rat-poison–drinking psych-outs never stop until the last frame.
08/02/01
We haven't had this much tawdry fun since Pia Zadora and Bo Derek's heydays.
08/02/01
What starts off as a sleazy melodrama with intriguing co-star chemistry quickly gets bogged down in piled-up plot twists.
08/02/01
The film aspires to Hitchcock ... but it comes off like one of those soft-core Red Shoe Diaries flicks you see on cable TV.
08/02/01
The script rambles between airy pomposities ... and atrocious ribaldries.
08/02/01
Whodunit is the last thing on this period thriller's mossy little mind. But motive is everything, and that's where it fails.
08/02/01
One should rent the superior Mississippi Mermaid with Catherine Deneuve, which is based on the same book.
08/02/01
If it had more panache, it would tumble into the infamous so-bad-it's-good category, but that's too positive a label for this sad-sack saga.
08/02/01
Banderas' and Jolie's characters are not recognizably human. They are engineered to fit the mechanics of plot.
08/02/01
The situation is unbelievable, the characters are laughable, and the dialogue is exploding all over the place like an overripe peach.
08/02/01
Watching Banderas and Jolie rolling around ... you find yourself thinking about Melanie and Billy Bob, Zorro and Lara Croft, and, ultimately, Access Hollywood.
08/02/01
The actors have so little chemistry delivering tired dialogue that the sluggish direction by Michael Cristofer ... is merely the final insult.
08/02/01
[Cristofer] gets the look of art but not the pulse.
08/02/01
Latest News for Original Sin
May 22, 2001:
Based upon: The novel, Waltz into Darkness, by Cornell Woolrich, an author and screenwriter responsible for many film noir classics like Rear Window and Phantom Lady. 
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May 22, 2001:
The Banderas - Jolie matchup was hot enough to spark rumors (much denied) of an on set romance. Then again Cristofer's last flick was the opposite of hot Body Shots.
More...
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