The One I Love 2014

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Like many movies that premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, "The One I Love" has plenty of story - for a 30-minute TV episode, in this case of "The Twilight Zone." Read more

Matthew Kassel, New York Observer: Atonal and aimless, it zigzags clumsily from mood to mood, without any clear direction. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: One of those highly original films whose secrets are best experienced without much hint of what's to come. Read more

Geoff Berkshire, Variety: Charlie McDowell makes an incredibly assured directorial debut with this smart crowd-pleaser, featuring spectacular performances from Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: Lader's clever screenplay questions what people truly want and expect from their partners. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "The One I Love" is an odd, unsettling and ultimately satisfying movie. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Says more about intimacy and individuality than any romantic comedy or romantic tragedy in years. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: When the couple first realize what's going on, the husband immediately references The Twilight Zone, whose 26-minute time slot would have been more appropriate here. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Moss and Duplass are just about perfect in it, never begging for audience sympathy, merely working inside their characters for audience empathy. But this strikes me as a short film that has been blobbed out, uncertainly, to feature length. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: A clever amuse-bouche of a movie built around a conceit that can't be talked about in any detail...Let's just say it might have been something worthy of a Twilight Zone episode if Rod Serling were an indie filmmaker in the 21st century. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Charlie McDowell's romantic brainteaser is disarmingly clever - too clever to spoil. Read more

Kate Erbland, Film.com: A tightly constructed and cleverly designed take on the modern love story. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: On a moment-to-moment basis, this smoothly made film can be incredibly trying, even annoying, to watch, due to the grueling repetitiveness of the scenes and dialogue and the claustrophobia of the paradoxically beautiful setting. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: There is something slightly subversive and satisfyingly spot on when a movie about love and marriage turns on a solitary detail. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Ethan and Sophie are never more than playthings of the premise; Moss and Duplass are the sole sources of nuance and vitality, and they seem unduly hemmed in by the movie's unimaginative confines. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: It begins by exploring how fantasy intrudes on and affects our perceptions of reality; it ends by trying too hard to convince us that its fantasies could, somehow, be real. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "The One I Love" sets out as one thing, tacks towards another direction and then successfully winds up as a hybrid of both. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: "The One I Love" is diverting, but nothing catches fire, despite Ms. Moss, an amazing actress fast breaking free of the limits imposed on her by "Mad Men." Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: First-time director Charlie McDowell and writer Justin Lader are skillful at subverting domestic-comedy cliches, and Moss and Duplass are superb at being tender, funny and borderline satiric. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: If you survive that wrenching plot curve (some won't), you're in for an emotional workout. Knowing you've never seen anything like this, Moss and Duplass let it rip. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Moss' combination of surface sweetness and watchful coldness - of studied placidity and cutthroat honesty - is right in line with the movie's aura. And Duplass brings in the comedy, in a performance that ranges from slapstick to menace. Read more

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The One I Love" is a weird but gutsy exploration of what happens when we alternately idealize and find fault with our romantic partners. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: Here's a date movie that will neither cozily cheer you nor satisfyingly thrill you, but instead leave you scratching your head. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Director Charlie McDowell and screenwriter Justin Lader raise both smiles and pulses with their impressive feature debut, which never overplays its sneaky hand. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: It's never easy to capture simultaneously the spark that brings a couple together and the resentments that drive them apart, but these actors nail all that - and even more. Read more

Tomris Laffly, Time Out: For a high-concept effort like this one, the literalization of the endgame is a bit of a cop-out. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Fans of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits will particularly appreciate this blend of clever mystery, offbeat wit and a deeper-than-usual observational analysis of relationships and marital ennui. Read more

Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice: The edges and nicks are what distinguish us from one another, and from the get-go this couple feels gel-capped. That's a real problem ... Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Although it arrives in the guise of mind-bending sci-fi, The One I Love is a fairly conventional dark comedy of jealousy and emasculation. It's a very enjoyable one, though. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Like figures in a funhouse that is both philosophical and phantasmagoric, the characters in "The One I Love" spook you, both inside your head and inside your heart. Read more