We Don't Live Here Anymore 2004

Critics score:
65 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It's an honest, revealing and provocative look at the sort of people we think we know, but in reality, rarely do. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: We Don't Live Here Anymore deftly captures the pain and suffocation of people who have fallen out of love and don't know who to blame. It just forgets to allow them -- or the audience -- to feel anything else. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [The] performances stay with you. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Usually American marital problems are left to the soap operas; it's nice to see them tackled by experts, piercing personas and peeling open hearts. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The acting is fervent, and the insights cut deep. Read more

Ebert & Roeper: Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Spellbinding stuff -- in part because of its vivid characterizations. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A movie as empty as its title. A lot of good acting is going on, but there's nobody home. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Watts manages to make her Edith seem genuinely remorseful about her actions but unable to stop, and Ruffalo puts a believable hint of guilt in Jack's face that he carries through the film. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Inadequate emotionally and psychologically. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Affecting and sincere. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Dramatically slack, the story isn't driven by plot so much as by the slow revelation of character. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Painful, powerful adaptation of two of Andre Dubus' beautifully frank stories. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: At times harrowing to watch, yet it's also wry and delicate and absorbing. It's infused with the messy excitement of imperfect passion. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A bookish picture without a book's depth. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: An intricate drama that derives tragedy from emotional indifference, immaturity and fatigue, qualities that have spelled doom for more than a few marriages. Read more

F.X. Feeney, L.A. Weekly: Originally written in the 1970s. That figures, in the best sense: It is worthy of comparison to the lifelike, character-rich films we cherish from that era, and is certainly one of the finest films to come out this year. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Fastidious and controlled to a fault, but rewarding nonetheless. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A sense of unease, of incompleteness, is, I think, the appropriate response to this movie. Instead of trying to fill in the blanks, Curran and Gross leave things open and ambiguous. Just like life. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A movie for grownups about four childish adults. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: If you want to see how other couples fight, We Don't Live Here Anymore is as good a place as any to visit. But why, exactly, would you want to? Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I was fully absorbed in the characters and their casually outrageous behavior. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The murk and mystery of marriage, adultery and friendship have seldom been illuminated with such harsh precision. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: We Don't Live Here Anymore is, you might say, a movie for adults who are, perhaps, a smidge too impressed with being adults. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Too desultory. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Pretty potent. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: If you can deal with the muddy footprints, the mess is worth it. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: We Don't Live Here Anymore is a revelation. One rarely sees American-made movies that are so unafraid to explore emotional cruelty and portray the consequences without positing easy answers or attaching happy endings. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: The movie may leave its audience feeling a little battered ... Still, the film's honesty, along with its refusal to pander to Hollywood happy endings, is well worth the beating. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The film astutely finds a vivid personality for each character. Read more