Deals with weighty issues and is intellectually intriguing, but I found myself uninvolved from start to finish.
The Shipping News (2001)
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... 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 Newfoundland, newspaper journalist Quoyle (Kevin Spacey), his young daughter Bunny (Alyssa Gainer), and his stern aunt Agnis Hamm (Dame Judi Dench) have reclaimed their ancestral home, which stood vacant for 40 years perched over the raging sea on the edge of a cliff. The fresh air and the mundane routine of the sleepy village act as a balm for Quoyle's wounds. Having grown up with unhappy parents who cautioned him that he'd never amount to anything, Quoyle thought he'd finally found a stroke of luck when he fell in love with Petal (a surprisingly slutty but no less beautiful Cate Blanchett), Bunny's mother. However, after Petal's sudden death, and the simultaneous passing of his loveless parents, Quoyle's migration from downtrodden Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to coastal Canada is his salvation. As Quoyle gains confidence and pride daily through his coworkers at the tiny newspaper the Gammy Bird, through his friendship with Wavey (a lovely Julianne Moore), and through his reconciliation with some spooky family secrets from the distant past, Quoyle, Bunny, and Agnis slowly find new direction, new hope, and the beginnings of a new life. [More]
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Gordon Pinsent, Jason Behr, Larry Pine, Jeannetta Arnette, Robert Joy, Alyssa Gainer, Lauren Gainer, Kaitlyn Gainer, Will MCallister
Director: Lasse Hallström
Director: Lasse Hallström
Screenwriter: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Producer: Irwin Winkler, Leslie Holleran, Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Composer: Christopher Young
Studio: Miramax Films
Reviews for The Shipping News
It's worth seeing at the very least because it is so different from standard Hollywood fare.
Moves at a glacial pace, much like the icy land it's set in. And even a top-notch cast can't warm up the atmosphere.
Everything has a fusty, embalmed quality: Whatever gave the novel its vitality has been smothered.
The interior monologues and intense detail of the book don't transfer well to the big screen. When a guy is this bored with himself, why should we argue otherwise?
Preserves the wry humor and spare language of E. Annie Proulx's novel, adding only a minimal amount of sentimental glop.
Hallstrom works poetic wonders with the howling winds, roiling seas and rocky coastline.
Hallström weaves his wand, and Proulx's characters and end-of-the-world setting come magically alive with just the right touch of authenticity, enigmatic mystery and eccentric flair.
Hallstrom and screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs deftly sidestep sentimentality in favor of subtlety, and the talented cast, lead by Spacey, follows their lead.
Feels like a CliffsNotes version of the novel where we're told the superficial story, but don't sense the underlying emotional turmoil.
Hallstrom injects a little magic realism here, a fantasy flashback there, but without Proulx's language, what's left is a pretty pedestrian tale.
Instead of giving you the book, it leaves you with the unfulfilled sense of having leafed through an elegant, studiously captioned photo essay of the same material.
It's easier to respect than to love a movie almost totally lacking in conventional dramatic conflict, with almost all the characters seeming in dire need of antidepressants.
The tale of family being rebuilt is sporadically affecting but never cumulatively uplifting because of the episodic nature of the storytelling.
The nominally emotional moments feel unearned, partially because many of the book's edges and eccentricities have been softened.
A meandering, visually lovely film that mostly proves there are some things on the page that cannot work on the screen.
Hallstrom is a master storyteller and, in Proulx's The Shipping News, he has a grand tale to tell.
Hallstrom has fashioned a disjointed movie full of strong performances and some powerful individual scenes.
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. ![]()
More...
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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