Evelyn 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: Proves a pleasant enough way to while away a rainy afternoon. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: There is enough good and good-spirited about Evelyn -- beginning with the performances by Brosnan and Vavasseur -- to forgive its more treacly moments. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: There was a fine family drama to be made here, but what we get instead is too sweet to swallow. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: This is a sincerely crafted picture that deserves to emerge from the traffic jam of holiday movies. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: So verbally flatfooted and so emotionally predictable or bland that it plays like the standard made-for-TV movie. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: If the real-life story is genuinely inspirational, the movie stirs us as well. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: Though the film is spongy and drenched in sweetness, Bruce Beresford's direction is steady and well oiled. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: With its personal feel, its more-than-capable cast and its rousing courtroom finale, it's the sort of picture that makes 'old-fashioned' a good thing. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: There's real inspiration to be found in this warmly told David and Goliath story, and 'tis a fine time to revel in that. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Despite a story predictable enough to make The Sound of Music play like a nail-biting thriller, its heart is so much in the right place it is difficult to get really peeved at it. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Intelligent and moving. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Stephen Rea, Aidan Quinn, and Alan Bates play Desmond's legal eagles, and when joined by Brosnan, the sight of this grandiloquent quartet lolling in pretty Irish settings is a pleasant enough thing, 'tis. Read more

Ray Conlogue, Globe and Mail: It's a blarney bath from the word go, with unbearably winsome characters spinning out Irishisms by the yard. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The film is predictable in the reassuring manner of a beautifully sung holiday carol. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: The movie has a script (by Paul Pender) made of wood, and it's relentlessly folksy, a procession of stagy set pieces stacked with binary oppositions. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Good-looking, well-acted and now and then shamelessly sentimental paean to perseverance, spirit and Irish humor. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A shamelessly uplifting motion picture that attains its feel-good status by forging a deep emotional connection between the undertrodden protagonist and the audience. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Told with the frank simplicity of a classic well-made picture, it tells its story, nothing more, nothing less, with no fancy stuff. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Evelyn may be a weightless picture, but it's hardly torture to sit through. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The film wakes up when the case goes to court, but until then it's a plodding affair and so saccharine that we have to wonder if we're really getting the whole story. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Instead of the clear-headed resolve the material demands, Beresford's film offers slush, blarney and grandstanding actors ... Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A simple, sentimental family drama for the holidays, Evelyn, alas, is also predictable and schematic. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: A sprightly pace and a fatalistic sense of humor propel the proceedings over a generous amount of drinking jokes and other cliches of Irish life and culture. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: It's hardly clear why the case is 'hopeless' or why its legal precedent is dramatically important, but Beresford and his team whip up the puddin' into teary triumphs anyway. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: From any other filmmaker, Evelyn would be merely a forgettable good intention, but when you consider that Beresford is the man who brought us Black Robe and Breaker Morant, it approaches heartbreak. Read more