Venus 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Peter O'Toole, still a British cinematic lion at 74, performs another movie miracle in the Roger Michell-Hanif Kureishi film Venus. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: In the end, the film is a straight-ahead boy-meets-girl story -- half a century too late. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: If indeed Venus is his swan song, it resounds with a sweetly magnificent melody. Don't miss it. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Venus is awash in terrific performances. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The ruined beauty of Peter O'Toole permeates every frame of Venus, a movie that exists for almost no other reason than to allow us to worship at the altar of this incomparable actor. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Venus is pitched partly as a fond farewell to a beloved artist [O'Toole], and his whole beautiful generation. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: With his intelligent and soulful performance, O'Toole reminds us exactly why he has been nominated for eight Oscars. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This is a relationship unlike any we've seen, and it's a measure of the film's subtle gifts that it is easier to watch it unfolding than to precisely define what we're seeing. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: O'Toole has such a one-of-a-kind face that at times the director, Roger Michell, is content just to have his camera gaze upon it. That puts a burden on O'Toole, who cannot, and doesn't care to, hide the ravages of time. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Venus succeeds because there is no hint of smugness in sight. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Venus is a fine reminder of the wonders we're presented with every day. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Venus has a swank pedigree, but in this case that doesn't mean it's much more than a quaint machine to elicit tears and awards. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Venus is emotionally affecting, not because O'Toole's Maurice is coping with mortality, but because of the honest way he confronts it. Read more

Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News: The film gives Mr. O'Toole all the space he needs to prove that his craft is still fresh and virile. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Elegiac, filthy-minded, unsparing, and as deeply moving as you'd expect from any de facto story of Peter O'Toole's life. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The script by Hanif Kureishi is smart, witty, understated and fits O'Toole to a T. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Venus is worth seeing for the scenes between O'Toole and Vanessa Redgrave as the woman he abandoned. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Even with O'Toole's charms, this is a story with enormous poor-taste potential. Yet director Roger Michell and writer Hanif Kureishi wisely don't make this a story about May-December sex. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Peter O'Toole, looking frail beyond his 74 years, gives what may be his farewell performance as a leading movie actor in Roger Michell's Venus. It's one for the books -- and maybe the Oscars, too. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: O'Toole spent so many years being better than the little material that he was offered that it's heartening to see him sprint toward the finish of his career with such a flourish. If this is his curtain call, it's a glorious one. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: O'Toole deserves all the praise he has been getting for this part. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Venus belongs to O'Toole. This is, hands down, my favorite performance of the year, largely because I love the way O'Toole (and the filmmakers) refuse to yield to the all-too-pervasive idea that it's 'icky' for old people to even think about sex. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: The suggestion that Peter O'Toole is playing some version of his real self in Venus adds a bittersweet poignancy to this quietly affecting British drama. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Laura Emerick, Chicago Sun-Times: With wonderful testaments like Lawrence, Lion and now Venus, O'Toole will always live on. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Venus adheres to the general parameters of conventional Hollywood with such cheek, intelligence and sheer self-deprecating nastiness that it does more to redeem the fantasy than it does the selfish and vain old geezer who is its beneficiary. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: The lingering impressions here are of regret, resignation and renewal, the fascination of firm flesh and O'Toole growling 'Come on, old man!' as he slaps his own sagging face. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: If only [director] Michell's film actually said something about aging, and didn't feel the need to include Grumpy Old Men shtick and bland bossa nova-inflected pop. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Venus is sharply written with fine supporting performances, but the movie is all about O'Toole, showcasing an actor who at 72 continues to astound with the depth of his talent. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Genuinely funny, randy and moving by turns, breezily enjoyable throughout. Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: Maurice, the protagonist of Venus, is a suit lovingly tailored to O'Toole's ravaged but commanding frame. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: An edgily charming meditation about the mysteries of attraction. Read more