Unfaithful 2002

Critics score:
49 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: After posing a moral dilemma worthy of serious consideration, [Lyne] resorts to genre solutions. That worked in Fatal Attraction, which resolved itself as a horror film, but it doesn't work here. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: An awesomely superficial, thoroughly bland, psychologically bankrupt rehash of [Lyne's] greatest hits. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Diane Lane's performance in Unfaithful is so good we can only wish it were in a movie that deserved it. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Despite solid performances, you never get a real feel for any of the characters, which makes it hard to care what happens to them. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Diane Lane is magnificent in this movie. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Diane Lane works nothing short of a minor miracle in Unfaithful. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A movie about sexuality that really throbs with eroticism. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: As the movie darkens and becomes a desperate and not always convincing tale of crime and cover-up, Unfaithful takes Mr. Lyne into areas where he has never gone. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Looking for a laugh? Unfaithful, a study of adultery, murder, guilt and unresolved endings, provides more than a few. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: French actor Martinez gives Paul the kind of carefree arrogance Gere had in similar roles 20 years ago. He and Lane sizzle in their sultry scenes of afternoon delight. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Unfaithful says some true things about marriage, true enough that men will be looking askance at their wives for days after seeing it. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: May not make you feel, but certainly makes you think. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though it is difficult to take Unfaithful as seriously as it takes itself, on its own terms it's quite well done. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: An adult film about the hard choices adults have to make. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: The audience when I saw this one was chuckling at all the wrong times, and that's a bad sign when they're supposed to be having a collective heart attack. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: The uncommonly good screenplay by Alvin Sargent and William Broyles Jr., keeps you undecided, even tormented, about whom to empathize with and why. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Not since the underrated What Lies Beneath has a domestic thriller been made with so much sultry juice and power. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Lyne commits the dramatist's unpardonable sin -- ultimately, he proves unfaithful to his own premise. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Diane Lane shines in Unfaithful. Almost everything else is wan. Read more

Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly: What's curious about Unfaithful is just how little it pops. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A glossy, depthless melodrama. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Escapism in its purest form. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Flawed but fascinating, and the performance by Diane Lane nothing short of miraculous. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: After the plot's big turning point, the movie loses its focus and can't decide whether it wants to be a melodrama or a crime thriller. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Instead of pumping up the plot with recycled manufactured thrills, it's content to contemplate two reasonably sane adults who get themselves into an almost insoluble dilemma. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Diane Lane's sophisticated performance can't rescue Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful from its sleazy moralizing. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Plays like something that's been cryogenically preserved since the AIDS-hysteria heyday of about 1987. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Even if you didn't know Lyne directed Fatal Attraction, you would sit through this always-solemn movie fearing the outcome. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: The vintage is pure '87, with a halfhearted twist on its cautionary message: Fatal Attraction = don't have an affair with a nutjob; Unfaithful = don't if you're married to one. Read more