Abandon 2002

Critics score:
16 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: The next big thing's not-so-big (and not-so-hot) directorial debut. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It can't make up its mind whether it's a serious drama, a swoony romance, or a psychological thriller. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Abandon would be almost forgivable as the stupidest movie of the year if it weren't the most boring as well. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Too much of this well-acted but dangerously slow thriller feels like a preamble to a bigger, more complicated story, one that never materializes. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's light on the chills and heavy on the atmospheric weirdness, and there are moments of jaw-droppingly odd behavior -- yet I found it weirdly appealing. Read more

Erik Lundegaard, Seattle Times: A psychological thriller that doesn't thrill much and whose ending we can guess halfway through; but if you're a lover of smart dialogue and intelligent characters, you won't be disappointed. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Gaghan would rather make you think than jump. You might prefer to do both, but idea-driven thrillers are in short supply, and the troubled Katie earns the right to haunt your mind. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: There's so little going on in the film that its title seems to suggest an action that audiences may be driven to take before the movie ends. Read more

Bill Wyman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Challenging, intermittently engrossing and unflaggingly creative. But it's too long and too convoluted and it ends in a muddle. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: A trite psychological thriller designed to keep the audience guessing and guessing -- which is not to be confused with suspecting -- until it comes time to wrap things up and send the viewers home. Read more

Houston Chronicle: Read more

Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly: A competently made, mildly diverting collegiate thriller. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Credit this picture with an ambitious effort to dramatize an ineffable yet recognizable mood -- even if its ambition isn't quite fulfilled. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: [The title's] unintentional effect is to presage the sense of torment the viewer experiences as he or she is buried deep inside the movie's unrewarding ramblings. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Gaghan captures the half-lit, sometimes creepy intimacy of college dorm rooms, a subtlety that makes the silly, over-the-top coda especially disappointing. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: One sloughs one's way through the mire of this alleged psychological thriller in search of purpose or even a plot. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Comes across as exceedingly dumb, even when you consider that a lot of the rank stupidity is designed to facilitate the 'surprise' twist (ho-hum) that is telegraphed midway through the excruciatingly long 90-minute running time. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie finally did not satisfy me, and so I cannot recommend it, but there is a lot to praise, beginning with Katie Holmes' performance. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: One of the most incoherent features in recent memory. Read more

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle: Some movies are exercises in escapism, and this movie is no more and no less than that. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The title helpfully offers the most succinct review of it you'll read anywhere. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Pic's structure and last-minute disclosures entirely betray any personal investment the viewer has made in this low-key yarn, which will cause audiences to feel ambushed and sullied at fadeout. Read more

Ed Park, Village Voice: Hardly a nuanced portrait of a young woman's breakdown, the film nevertheless works up a few scares. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Consider the title your best advice. These 99 minutes roll by like 99 years. Read more