The scheme and scope of the movie are just too darned obvious.
Comment
03/07/03
The Safety of Objects (2003)
49
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:72
Fresh:35
Rotten:37
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: The large cast of characters and scripting are too unwieldy, and the suburban angst theme feels tired.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS is an American suburban drama filled with subversive humour. We uncover the lives of four neighbouring families as they struggle to make honest human relationships. In doing... [More]
Starring: Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney, Joshua Jackson
Director: Rose Troche
Reviews for The Safety of Objects
Glenn Close leads a terrific ensemble cast in Rose Troche's haunting epic of suburban life, fueled by Barbie, Pop-Tarts and God's wicked sense of humor.
03/07/03
The Safety of Objects is like a hike through the swamp of despond, with ennui sticking to our shoes.
03/07/03
Top CriticWhile Troche shows style and accomplishment in tackling and balancing such a complex scale, her script leaves something to be desired.
03/06/03
[Troche] assembles the damaged human elements of Ms. Homes's world with patience and precision, and more often than not chooses dry understatement over easy satire or obvious sentiment.
03/06/03
Top CriticTroche transcends The Safety of Objects' inherent aura of contrivance and soap opera by creating a screen filled with real people and setting them off with shrewd structuring.
03/06/03
Top CriticTroche's film derives its voltage from the way it burrows to find that the connections within -- and among -- families are very much alive.
03/06/03
The disciplined performances play against schmaltz, and the casting is inspired.
03/06/03
A couple of unexpected revelations in the final act pack an emotional wallop that shifts the film into the realm of old-fashioned tearjerker, but the tears are wholly earned.
03/06/03
A film about people who feel too much for people who don't think too much.
03/06/03
Presented with such confidence, such care, that we love all of the characters, even if we don't like them.
03/06/03
Not my life, not yours, but lives worth living and looking in on.
03/05/03
The merging of characters and intersecting of lives seems forced.
03/04/03
Not a complete waste of time, but it doesn't make us feel the way better dramas do, and, in the end, it lacks the qualities that would make it memorable or powerful.
03/01/03
Tedious exercise in navel-gazing.
02/22/03
The large and talented cast holds the audience spellbound.
02/14/03
The characters are unusual enough, the dialogue sharp enough, and the acting good enough that it is relatively pleasant watching these lives for a couple hours.
02/08/03
Thematically unoriginal but redeemed by fine performances, a sense of humor, and fluid editing.
02/04/03
Deserving of notice if only for a few exceptional performances and some very fine editing work and cinematography.
10/23/02
The film is so energetic (a plus) that its body is often ahead of its brain. Still, the movie isn't so sappy that we're forced to resist it.
01/11/02
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