Solidly directed, evenly acted, and nicely filmed -- no real surprises, really.
Comment
01/15/02
The Shipping News (2001)
55
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:70
Rotten:57
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Though solidly made and acted, The Shipping News is rather heavy-handed and dull, especially given the nature of its protagonist.
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Lasse Hallstrom (CHOCOLAT, MY LIFE AS A DOG) presents this strong, quiet, chillingly deep adaptation of the popular novel by E. Annie Proulx. In a fishing port set in the Canadian province of... [More]
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett
Director: Lasse Hallström
Reviews for The Shipping News
I like good newspaper movies. Most of them get it completely wrong. In this case, it's exactly right.
01/10/02
Click to read the article
01/09/02
Some novels need to be left alone. Hear that, Hollywood?
01/08/02
Where The Cider House Rules was one of the most exquisite examples of classical Hollywood filmmaking in years, Chocolat was no more than a trite, pleasant trifle. The Shipping News, well made as it is, isn't even up to that standard.
01/08/02
Features fine, subtle work by just about everyone in the cast.
01/06/02
A sloppy, meandering morass of semi-realized ideas, half-baked characters and storylines that disappear before they come to a point.
01/06/02
Delivers a rewarding story about the return to one's roots and the human potential for renewal.
01/05/02
A movie that engrosses, hypnotizes and clings to the memory long after the final frame.
01/03/02
This is a highly amusing tale that is probably supposed to be more serious than it seemed to be on the screen.
01/03/02
A brilliantly filmed exploration into self-awareness.
01/03/02
A passive film, playing it quiet and safe, hoping that the viewer will extend some good will towards it.
01/03/02
There's nothing wrong with the performances here. It's the whitewashed writing and superficial directing that keep this decent movie from being a truly great one.
01/02/02
Lasse Hallstrom's tone poem on the lonely houses, rocky points, and foggy seas of Newfoundland
01/02/02
Click to read the article
12/31/01
Feels important, while also making you feel there are riches that remain untouched below the surface.
12/30/01
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12/30/01
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12/29/01
Top CriticReview lunges clumsily at meaning. Did she like it? Hate the book, cannot finish it. No need; Spacey renders reading obsolete by showing so much with his body.
12/28/01
Hallstrom and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs, the team that gave us the spectacularly ordinary Chocolat, have concocted another box of mediocrity.
12/28/01
Latest News for The Shipping News
August 01, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: An Unfinished Life
Finally earning a (limited) release after sitting on a Miramax shelf for about a year is Lasse Hallstrom's "An Unfinished Life," which stars Robert Redford, Morgan... More...
August 20, 2001:
'It's been a curious journey playing a character who just sort of responds,' says two-time Oscar winner Spacey. 
More...
March 27, 2001:
Before I started writing non-fiction, which I did simply to put meat and potatoes on the table, I was working on my doctorate in history.
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March 27, 2001:
It's interesting to note that this is another tale of an ordinary man in the midst/crossroads of his life, which seems to be a recurring theme for Spacey.
More...
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