Before I Go to Sleep 2014

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Unfortunately, the film turns out to be not quite as twisty as promised: it's less a pretzel than it is a Cheez Curl. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: At the moment "Before I Go To Sleep" looks like this year's grand-prize winner for Most Befuddling Narrative Structure. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The premise is promising, but writer/director Rowan Joffe seems at a loss for how to handle the material; it all eventually, like Christine's memories, fades away. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: The good news is that Rowan Joffe's adaptation of S.J. Watson's 2011 publishing phenom is far from a snooze; the bad news is that it's the film's escalating, po-faced ludicrousness that holds our attention. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Before I Go To Sleep turns a ludicrous premise into a fitfully suspenseful, consistently interesting exercise in audience manipulation. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: In short, the movie works, although probably not so well as the book does. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: It's just another forgettable genre film. If you don't figure it out within half an hour, you probably haven't been to a movie since 1999. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It isn't Hitchcock, but it will do. Read more

Kyle Anderson, Entertainment Weekly: Kidman and Firth are both excellent in their sadness and savagery, and Joffe builds tension far better than most of the horror movies available at your local Cineplex this Halloween weekend. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter: This decidedly average psychological thriller represents a missed opportunity. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Although "Before I Go to Sleep" is a handsomely made, often intriguingly twisty thriller, it feels like awfully familiar business. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A nifty premise, but other films have done this with more verve and imagination. The fine cast almost makes up for the ponderous tone. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's shallow, it's silly, it's pat. It's... forgettable. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: With luck, Kidman will erase this inept thriller from her memory as quickly as it leaves theaters. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This dull thriller wastes the potential of Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: If it weren't for the diligent performances of its stars, who inject some emotional depth into this bogus claptrap, "Before I Go to Sleep" would be an unwatchable, titter-inducing catastrophe. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Filled with far too many contradictions and implausible situations. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Were it not for the participation of two A-list actors, Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, Before I Go to Sleep would have been headed straight to video. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Kidman, in particular, takes honors for her smart, unshowy work, conveying desperation with her eyes and terror in the way she refuses to trust anyone with her real emotion. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Before I Go to Sleep" is a bad dream. It's a wobbly psychological thriller with only a trace of thrills. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Despite its intriguing premise, the film amounts to little more than tedious, cliched melodramatics. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Throbbing musical crescendos and flickery flashbacks abound but apart from some outlandish plot machinations, nothing here is good or bad enough to be memorable. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: [An] average thriller that's punctured with annoying plot holes. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: Before I Go To Sleep's combination of talents on both sides of the camera means that while it may not rocket you to the edge of your seat as quickly and cruelly as the recent Gone Girl, it's hardly a snooze. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: As a thriller this is perfectly effective, but while director Rowan Joffe keeps the twists coming, something about Kidman's blank, frosty performance is unconvincing. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Before I Go to Sleep feels like a recurring nightmare - the kind you wake up from and wonder why you dream in cliches. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: If the story is a smidge predictable, at least the movie is pleasingly old-fashioned and grown-up, with a '90s paranoid-thriller vibe. Read more