There are moments of sheer brilliance, but it's far too self-important and, ultimately, contrived.
Comment
11/02/05
3 Needles (2006)
35
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:13
Rotten:24
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: In getting its message about the AIDS epidemic across, the film unfortunately sacrifices story and character.
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Canadian writer-director Thom Fitzgerald's sweeping 3 NEEDLES journeys across several continents to show just how widespread HIV/AIDS has become in our modern world. Three distinct stories are... [More]
Starring: Shawn Ashmore, Lucy Liu, Stockard Channing, Olympia Dukakis
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Reviews for 3 Needles
A powerful piece, 3 Needles ultimately fails to cohere as narrative, but there can be few more compassionate films playing at the festival this year.
02/09/06
Top CriticIt's gorgeously filmed, but its character logic very rarely makes any sense.
11/30/06
Give me a little Sevigny and somehow the landscape of the heart and mind changes. For me, her qualities were all the salvation I needed. Without them, Purgatory, here I come!
10/26/06
Three riveting dramas about the AIDS crisis set in South Africa, China, and Canada that open our eyes and our hearts to victims of this dread disease.
12/03/06
Broad in scope and at times visually stunning, [director Thom] Fitzgerald's project is ambitious but lacks cohesion.
12/01/06
Top CriticI'd love a peek at the keyboard Fitzgerald uses to conjure his screeds: I've never seen one sledgehammered into dust and splinters before.
11/30/06
3 Needles is a case of diminishing returns with the first story of blood running in China the best and the last, set in Africa, the least compelling.
12/03/06
As a movie with an important message, 3 Needles is an idiotic waste of time.
05/27/07
Demonstrates that the transmission of HIV has become an uncontrollable global pandemic that feeds on poverty and recognizes no sexual, national or religious borders.
12/01/06
Making serious points about serious issues, the film underscores repeatedly the need for personal and official vigilance concerning "the virus,"
12/21/06
Nothing is as irritating as watching a film which is little more than an exercise of ego; worse is watching one that is about as discrete in its purpose as a missionary in Africa.
12/01/06
Each of these stories is a hissy fit of heinous proportions, one progressively worse than the other: all end on a sickeningly satisfied note of irony, tied together with hectoring narration that suggests a yuletide story.
11/07/06
The [AIDS] virus knows no boundaries, and chaos easily overcomes social order. With breathtaking cinematography by Thomas M. Harting, Thom Fitzgerald's take on this dilemma does not offer much hope.
06/24/06
Sprawling from Montreal to South Africa to China, Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles is a great discussion tool for World AIDS Awareness Day that never achieves coherent shape as a three-paneled drama.
10/06/05
Top Critic3 Needles is difficult to take at times, but it ultimately rewards those viewers willing to meet its challenges.
12/01/06
3 Needles, Thom Fitzgerald's globe-spanning investigation of the effects of AIDS, may ultimately be a call to unity, but there's an extreme amount of despair and misery before we get to hear that trumpet blare.
12/01/06
Had it taken a more hard-headed approach, 3 Needles might have been to the AIDS epidemic what Traffic was to the drug trade.
11/30/06
Top CriticThe film is unfocussed and listless. Fitzgerald has the ideas; what he needs more than anything is a ruthless editor.
09/09/05
If nothing else, [director Thom] Fitzgerald has demonstrated how huge a challenge the AIDS epidemic is on a worldwide scale, and how it will take a concerted, intelligent effort to solve it. It'll take a lot more than throwing money around.
12/01/06
Latest News for 3 Needles
December 05, 2006:
RTIndie: Stephen Frears Talks "The Queen" and Oscars; Almodovar And Cruz To Re-Team; Slamdance Lineup Set
In making "The Queen," Stephen Frears has directed one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and made $49 million in global box office returns to boot.... More...
November 30, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Nativity" Is Too Safe; "Turistas" Not Worth Trip
This week at the movies, we've got a new take on the first Noel ("The Nativity Story," starring Keisha Castle-Hughes), endangered Americans in Brazil... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds