Wicker Park 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Not a movie that inspires you to turn the puzzle over in your head after it's done. More likely, you'll wish you had amnesia. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The whole incoherent mess is sort of like a downbeat Gap ad, only longer and a lot more boring. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: To work, it has to make us feel crazy with love, like Vertigo did. Instead, it often just makes us feel crazy for believing any of it. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: An elegant tale of romantic obsession weighed down by a needlessly convoluted plot that yields far more confusion than psychological suspense. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A romance that isn't romantic and a thriller lacking thrills. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: Feel free to take a leisurely stroll out to the lobby for Swedish fish in the middle of Wicker Park. Missing 10 minutes won't affect your ability to follow this babel in the least. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Features a story so convoluted, audience members should be given a bag of breadcrumbs upon entry, so as to leave a trail through the logic. Read more

Megan Lehmann, New York Post: One of the silliest, most sieve-like screenplays of the year. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A shapeless mess. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Wicker Park is one of those maddening movies in which the characters do incredibly stupid things simply for the sake of plot contrivance, and everyone's problems would be solved if they simply picked up their cell phones. Read more

Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal: Wicker Park is built on such a goofy premise that your average soap-opera scriptwriter would laugh it out of a story meeting. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Dumb, suspense- free and undersexed stalker drama. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I am giving it thumbs up because of a very attractive cast and they do a wonderful job with what they got. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Wicker Park then doubles back on itself, layering flashback upon flashback, but instead of building toward a grand romantic climax, it just gets sillier before exploding into a torrent of unintended laughs. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: A film with more unbelievable coincidences than a Henry Fielding novel, more plot holes than a Swiss cheese and populated with the stock characters of that Hollywood world, that cinematic parallel universe. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The preview audience I saw it with hooted in disbelief at the outrageous bits, then happily dug in to see what would happen next. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: There are some striking visuals and Hartnett is a magnetic presence. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: The plot contains a few nice surprises, but the movie works most spectacularly as a compendium of idiotic movie behavior. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Makes your brain spin in surprising and pleasurable ways. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Its mood swings jump from erotic thriller to wistful romance, and its final explanatory moments play like a weak comic farce. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Doesn't lead to much beyond weepy melodrama. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: This is all hugely unconvincing, especially since the hero already has a fiancee who seems a more alluring prospect than either of her replacements. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A piece of entertainment as tired and throwaway as a discount Harlequin paperback, but it comes sheathed in the flashiest of book covers. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: The four main characters are all odd, sad and lonely. No wonder they don't call each other on their cells to straighten things out -- they're all too depressed to dial. Read more

Dave Kehr, New York Times: Directorial touches can't do much to salvage a project as poorly conceived as this one. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This film is genuinely interested in getting us inside the heads of its three leads (Matthew, Alex, and Lisa). It wants us to understand, although not necessarily sympathize with, all three of them. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Once we understand the principle (if not the details) of the plot, Wicker Park works because the actors invest their scenes with what is, under the circumstances, astonishing emotional realism. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Takes plenty of twists and turns, each so implausible and silly that you have no interest whatsoever in finding out what the next one will be. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A classy psychological thriller that challenges the audience to keep up with it. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Like eating beans before the opera, you may suffer the embarrassment of unfortunate outbursts at inappropriate moments -- in short, be prepared to laugh in all the wrong places. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: The result is a mess, but it's fun to watch it explode. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Sadly, we never really get the sense that these individuals are at the mercy of their capricious desires, and the absence of that engagement leaves us rather too much time to ponder the plot holes. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: All of this was more enjoyable when Bellucci, Cassel and Bohringer were the stars. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Dippy romantic thriller. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A limp and exceedingly uninvolving melodrama about -- gasp! -- a series of unfortunate miscommunications. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: This is a smart movie, full of astonishing reverses and switchbacks, and it adroitly walks the thin line between too clever by half and not clever enough by three-quarters. Read more