Laws Of Attraction 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A competently made formula movie. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: A handsome reminder that there's a reason they keep making -- and we keep watching -- this sort of movie. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's not awful, but it feels tired, like it's just another in a long line of cookie-cutter movies about pretty people. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A middling film that wastes a lot of good opportunities, as well as two fine, charming co-stars. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Terrible, terrible film. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: [A] disappointing romantic comedy that never shifts into high gear. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Laws of Attraction is like the Hepburn-Tracy movie Adam's Rib -- without Hepburn, Tracy, Adam, or his rib. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: A leaden attempt to recapture the effervescence of classic screwball. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Laws plays like a middling episode of Moonlighting, with the focus on the lawyers instead of the private eyes they hire. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: It tries to emulate the great Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn classics, but ends up a pale copy. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Watching Moore and Brosnan do this modernized yet willfully dated dance is honeyed entertainment. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Operates on such outdated, unimaginative conventions of movie chemistry that Moore and Brosnan end up appearing older and stodgier than necessary. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: The film appears to have been assembled by agents with stopwatches on their clients. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The dialogue is hit-and-miss, and the plot, short on surprises. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: [An] agreeable cliche of a movie. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Julianne Moore can be many, many wonderful things -- beautiful, talented, redheaded, heartbreaking -- but funny doesn't seem to be one of them. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: The actors work hard to concoct some chemistry, but it's tough to be Tracy and Hepburn, let alone Doris Day and Rock Hudson, when you're trying to get your mouth around lines that wouldn't pass muster on a UPN sitcom. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A by-the-numbers, rehashed romance. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: More chemistry between the leads would have helped. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A fun date flick. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The efforts of the cast are not enough to lift Laws of Attraction above the cautious banality of a midseason replacement sitcom. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: A film that is antic and strident instead of witty and shrewd. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: All but the most ardent of Brosnan's admirers will find this to be an uninspired round in the cinematic battle of the sexes. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [The leads] really deserved more from the director, Peter Howitt and co-writers Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling, who among them come up with less than one serviceable screenplay. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: I loved watching Brosnan and Moore go at it as New York lawyers Daniel Rafferty and Audrey Woods. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: [Brosnan] has his charm emitter turned up to 10, and [Moore] manages to insert episodes of loopy behavior without calling into question her character's intelligence. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Julianne Moore's talent is simply too heavy for her to rise above this quicksand comedy. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: You have to admire Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Frances Fisher for never giving up in Laws of Attraction. But watching actors labor so strenuously to re-create the feel of vintage Hollywood deflates the cause rather than exalts it. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: The charming chemistry of the leads and the lightness of tone achieved by director Peter Howitt ... keeps the whole enterprise afloat. Read more

Laura Sinagra, Village Voice: Our counselors' lawyer-ese is illegally bland, and their committee-penned banter meticulously Botoxed. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan create just enough chemistry to carry Laws of Attraction. Read more