RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
Trending Searches: Inception Dinner With Schmucks Charlie St. Cloud The Other Guys
Movies / On DVD / The Box
The Box

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Showtimes & Tickets
  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon

The Box (2009)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
45 %
Tomatometer
Template Image Template Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:133

Fresh:60

Rotten:73

Average Rating:5.1/10

Consensus: Imaginative but often preposterous, The Box features some thrills but largely feels too piecemeal.

Share |

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images

Runtime: 1 hr. 56 min.

Genre: Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror

Theatrical Release: Nov 6, 2009 Wide

Box Office: $114.9M

Synopsis: A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't... A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know. [More]

Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn

Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn, Holmes Osborne, Sam Oz Stone, Gillian Jacobs, Celia Weston, Deborah Rush, Lisa K. Wyatt, Mark S. Cartier, Kevin Robertson, Michele Durett, Ian Kahn, John Magaro, Ryan Woodle, Basil Hoffman, Robert Harvey, Gentry Lee, Andrew Levitas, Gabriel Field, Frank Ridley, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Matthew C. Flynn, Patrick Eugene Canty, Sam Blumenfeld, Kevin DeCoste, Mary Klug, Allyssa Maurice, Danielle Heaton, Michael Zegen, Rachael Hunt, Cheryl McMahon, Evelina Oboza, Bill Buell, Paul Marini, Don Warnock, W. Kirk Avery, Jenna Lamia, Michele Durrett

Director: Richard Kelly

Director: Richard Kelly
Screenwriter: Richard Kelly
Producer: Richard Kelly, Kelly McKittrick, Sean McKittrick
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • The Box
    >
    THE BOX SPANISH
    >
    THE BOX UK
    >
    THE BOX WHO PUSHED THE BUTTON
    >
  • THE BOX WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NORMA
    >
    THE BOX WE DONT WANT ANYONE TO GET HURT
    >
    THE BOX IF YOU PUSH THE BUTTON
    >
    THE BOX ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE THE OFFER TO SOMEONE ELSE
    >
1 - 4 of 8

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

GET THIS MOVIE

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 

REVIEWS FOR THE BOX

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 of 133 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Name | Source | Date
 
 

I'd like to think there is a director's cut coming at some point to fill in the gaping holes.

Full Review Source: Screenwize | comment Comment
Jul 4, 2010
Cris Kennedy
Cris Kennedy
Screenwize

"Somebody get Richard Kelly a Katherine Heigl romantic comedy stat, or else we might have yet another talented filmmaker unable to wiggle free from his own cavernous pretension."

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment Comment
Jun 2, 2010
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

Kelly runs The Box a little too closely to the themes of The Day the Earth Stood Still, although it does have something more cynical to say about humanity.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
Apr 1, 2010
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

[Richard] Matheson's original story was a short, sharp piece with a very direct point. Kelley simply uses it as a jumping off point for his own dense, weird and oddly personal "what-if" tale.

Full Review Source: Seanax.com | comment Comment
Mar 25, 2010
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com

Kelly stretches a perfectly good 22-minute television episode out to two hours with an insane barrage of red herrings and metaphysical sci-fi mumbo-jumbo

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
Mar 19, 2010
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

It is a film that wants to be profound but it ends up feeling more like a lesser episode of The X Files.

Full Review Source: Cinema Autopsy | comment Comment
Mar 18, 2010
Thomas Caldwell
Thomas Caldwell
Cinema Autopsy

[Director Kelly] ventures boldly into the ludicrous, and comes out the other side with an even more sinister conclusion.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
Mar 12, 2010
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

All moral conflicts and creepy allusions are lost in a barrage of ridiculous plot devices, and a story that makes absolutely no sense...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
Feb 25, 2010
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

For those willing to follow Kelly down all the rabbit holes his warped imagination contrives, there are small treasures to be found here and there.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
Feb 15, 2010
Rossiter Drake
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner

...promises more than it delivers, ultimately providing a muddled narrative that does nothing to convince us of its moral positions.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment 1 Comment
Feb 13, 2010
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

What is supposed to suggest a state of discomfort and unease feels more disjointed and frustrating than anything, and what's meant to be menacing soon turns laughable.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment 1 Comment
Dec 17, 2009
William Goss
William Goss
Cinematical

The acting is stiff, the special effects look cheap and the dialogue is unintentionally funny.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment 1 Comment
Dec 11, 2009
Cosmo Landesman
Cosmo Landesman
Sunday Times (UK)

For the first half-hour the movie is engagingly mystifying in a David Lynch vein. Subsequently it modulates into a piece of didactic transcendental science-fiction in the manner of The Day the Earth Stood Still and Close Encounters.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
Dec 11, 2009
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

The Box is by no means as indigestible as Southland Tales, and there's as much to relish as there is to groan at.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
Dec 11, 2009
Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber
Independent on Sunday

The most disturbing thing here is the yellow, oval-patterned 1970s wallpaper

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment 4 Comments
Dec 8, 2009
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

A potentially clever idea becomes a pretentious trip into the director's own obsessions.

comment Comment
Dec 8, 2009
Heat Magazine

...I walked into a Cameron Diaz film expecting to be treated to shlock, and concluded that I had just witnessed the rebirth of the classical sci-fi/thriller.

Full Review Source: Cinemalogue.com | comment Comment
Dec 6, 2009
Rubin Safaya
Rubin Safaya
Cinemalogue.com

Movie Marmite. Many will be perplexed. Donnie Darko fans should lap it up.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment 2 Comments
Dec 4, 2009
Mark Dinning
Mark Dinning
Empire Magazine

While it’s true that the film’s sci-fi antics are far from watertight in the logic department, there’s enough eccentricity and ambition at play to charm and bemuse in equal measure.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
Dec 4, 2009
David Jenkins
David Jenkins
Time Out

Think very carefully before you attempt to unlock the mysteries of The Box. There is no going back, you cannot undo your decision, you will never get back those 115 minutes, and by the horrifying end, those same 115 minutes will feel like a life sentence.

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment 3 Comments
Dec 4, 2009
Catherine Bray
Catherine Bray
Film4
 
 
1 - 20 of 133 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|

LATEST NEWS FOR THE BOX

all

November 5, 2009: Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
This week at the movies, we've got some modern-day Dickens (Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman); a button-pushing thriller (The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James... More...

November 3, 2009: Richard Kelly Talks The Box
It's been a long and somewhat bumpy ride getting "The Box" to theaters, but director Richard Kelly is finally on the verge of releasing his latest film. He talks about the journey -- and what's next... More...

July 24, 2009: Five Favorite Films with Richard Kelly
Is it possible that after only two films (his cult hit debut Donnie Darko and his infamously panned follow-up, Southland Tales), director Richard Kelly has already achieved auteur status? Audiences... More...

June 25, 2009: Trailer Bulletin: The Box
We've been hearing about Richard Kelly's "The Box" for what seems like forever -- and now you can catch a glimpse of it, thanks to the new trailer that's just been released. More...

April 7, 2009: Poster for Richard Kelly's The Box Released
Richard Kelly's "The Box" has languished in studio limbo for months, but if the movie's new poster is to be believed, the Cameron Diaz/James Marsden thriller will reach theaters on October 30. More...

DVD

Close
More DVDs
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
67% 67% Shutter Island
28% 28% Dear John
51% 51% Alice in Wonderland
47% 47% The Book of Eli
19% 19% Cop Out

More…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
29% 29% Clash of the Titans
22% 22% Repo Men
93% 93% Vincere
91% 91% La Graine et le Mulet (The Secret of the Grain) (Couscous)
85% 85% The Art Of The Steal

More…

RT ON CURRENT TV

See All

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Press| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
Copyright © 2010 Flixster, Inc. All rights reserved. | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
Certain product data © 1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.
/movies/movie.jsp - web83.flixster.com (us)