White Oleander 2002

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: What elevates White Oleander from soap opera to a small but noteworthy triumph of the human spirit is Lohman's luminous performance. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: This is a third-person story now, told by Hollywood, and much more ordinary for it. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Redeemed by some fine performances, most notably by Lohman. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: It's the performances that elevate White Oleander into something more substantial, none more so than Pfeiffer's portrayal of ferocious motherly love. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The film is worth seeing for its honest heart and for the magnificent acting. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Much of the pleasure to be had in White Oleander is in watching its female stars revel in their screen time. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: The picture's pretentiousness puts a drag on its running time. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It plays like a synopsis, jumping from scene to scene, grief to grief, and it doesn't let us relax into the various worlds it's creating. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Superbly acted from top to bottom. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A smart, compelling drama. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Even though White Oleander ... is not always compelling, it's a tribute to the strength of the book's conception and the good work that's gone into it that it retains the power to haunt us. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: They kept much of the plot but jettisoned the stuff that would make this a moving experience for people who haven't read the book. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Too many of [Astrid's] experiences with adults ring false. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Impressively unflappable and natural, 23-year-old Lohman ... holds the whole plot together skillfully. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Call me a cynic, but there's something awfully deadly about any movie with a life-affirming message. Read more

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: It's exceptionally well-cast, helmed and acted. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: With its open, spontaneous elasticity, White Oleander is that rare Hollywood film -- an attempt to understand, without judgment, a world on its own terms. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: It's Lohman's poise in carrying this unwieldy story that impresses you the most at the movie's end. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For what it is, Kosminsky's picture is polished and effective. If only the movie had taken more risks or possessed a keener edge... Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The film takes the materials of human tragedy and dresses them in lovely costumes, Southern California locations and star power. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: At its best it offers pleasures similar to those of 1940s women's melodramas. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: What should have been a guaranteed weepie is never truly moving. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: A movie that wafts in and out of clarity like a wavering transmission. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Never rising above routine episodic storytelling, White Oleander nonetheless retains something of its source novel's ravaged emotional surface and cool, observant manner. Read more

Michael Miller, Village Voice: Ultimately sacrifices nuance to tidy epiphanies about personal growth. Read more