Babbit overplays her hand, heavily hinting at every mystery, and by the midpoint the film is just a long dive into the inevitable.
Comment
08/31/06
The Quiet (2006)
22
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:20
Rotten:72
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: This psychological thriller's talented cast is undercut by leaden pacing and a problematic plot.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Jamie Babbitt (GILMORE GIRLS) makes his feature debut with this suburban melodrama tinged with the trappings of exploitation films and Gothic horror. Dot (Camilla Belle, THE CHUMSCRUBBER) is a deaf... [More]
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan
Director: Jamie Babbitt
Reviews for The Quiet
The director combines an angst-ridden look at suburban perversions with a teen titillation comedy, and the final product often comes off as pretentious, crass and overwrought.
08/31/06
... a lamentable waste of genuine talent, an example of how a weak link spoils a collaborative effort
09/01/06
In retrospect, it is Belle who manages to acquit herself best with a role that never quite makes sense, but affords her some expressive, silent sequences. Surely she will find other film work and then quietly drop The Quiet from her biography.
09/23/06
Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace The Quiet as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it's a misfire.
09/16/06
Approaches a serious subject with a portentousness that it hopes will be confused for art.
08/25/06
What on the surface initially seems like your typical bitchy blonde-versus-ostracized newcomer teensploit is merely this taut psychological thriller's point of departure for the exploration of a more sobering set of circumstances.
02/10/07
The Quiet is in such bad taste that it's a shame the thriller doesn't make a better bad movie.
09/01/06
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04/23/09
Babbit starts with loud caricature and lathers on a lecherous tone with a lesbian subtext.
09/13/06
The Quiet fails to realize its ambition of melding the satirical levity of a teen high-school comedy with serious, issue-oriented drama.
09/02/06
Babbit clumsily underlines emotional moods.
08/31/06
How can a movie structured around incest, murder, parental alcoholism, underage fornication, and overt flirting between same-sex cheerleaders be so bland, frigid and hopelessly lifeless?
09/02/06
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08/26/06
It's a complete fraud that never feels the least bit authentic in its efforts to titillate and shock.
09/01/06
Top CriticSheer punishment to watch.
08/31/06
The score is good, with lots of Beethoven, who, not surprisingly, is Dot's favorite composer.
08/31/06
Click to read the article
04/29/09
As a vehicle for two stunning, upcoming talents, it's intriguing and stylish enough to warrant a look-see, with eroticism as the clincher.
08/15/06
The fatalistic woe becomes an indie film mockery. It's truly adolescent.
03/15/07
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