The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond 2008

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The script is half-a-fortune at best, and visually the picture is staid. But you stick with it, because it's Williams and because certainly no one since Williams has written this sort of embroidered dialogue. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: It's not just that director Jodie Markell is no Kazan (though really, who is?) or that the dreary, dully handsome Chris Evans -- even playing a blank-slate beau hunk seems beyond his capabilities -- is the anti-Dean. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's minor Williams turned minor cinema, but there are nonetheless moments that resonate. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Like Fisher, the film is lovely, if flawed. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The characters and themes are redolent of earlier and better Williams works, and the story unexpectedly putters out at the end-but seeing it now, you can't help but treasure the simple, lyrical dialogue and sure-handed narrative thrust Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: If you are not already familiar with Williams's best plays and film adaptations, this musty magnolia of a movie won't encourage you to seek them out. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Perhaps playwright Tennessee Williams' unproduced 1980 screenplay was unproduced -- until now -- for a reason. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: While this recently rediscovered screenplay won't rank with the best of Williams, the script does possess a poignancy that remains frustratingly out of reach onscreen. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Even if it were not filmed in the dreariest TV-movie style by the debuting Jodie Markell, this romantic melodrama set in 1920s Mississippi seems almost like a self-parody of Williams' earlier work. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: Though it's dated, the larger issue has to do with those timeless problems of plot and character. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: This is minor Tennessee Williams, but times are hard. I guess minor Tennessee Williams is better than no Tennessee Williams at all. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It has been filmed in a respectful manner that evokes a touring production of an only moderately successful Broadway play. Understand that, accept it, and the film has its rewards and one performance of great passion. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Even though Howard never quite gets it, never quite releases into the role and never quite convinces, she never makes a mistake, either. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: If Tennessee Williams's script for Joseph Losey's 1968 turkey Boom! saw the light of day, just how bad must a Williams screenplay unproduced for decades be? Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Read more