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01/01/00
Return to Paradise (1998)
70
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:30
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Tony is a successful architect, ready to be married. Sherriff is a devil-may-care limo driver. Two years prior, they had been in Malaysia living the high life with a third buddy, Lewis. Lewis... [More]
Starring: Anne Heche, Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, David Conrad
Director: Joseph Ruben
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Reviews for Return to Paradise
...It all seems to be a predictable formula-driven film instead of one filled with an unpredictable raw energy.
01/01/00
It's a painful prospect, to be sure, and Sheriff, in particular, insists he's no hero, but the next hour or so of handwringing conjures little suspense.
06/24/06
The characters aren't very sympathetic. That's not because of a lack of effort from the cast so much as heavy-handed direction and laughable dialogue.
01/01/00
No review available.
04/10/03
If it's to be experienced at all, Return to Paradise is best seen as a lively piece of pulp, not a profound exploration of the vagaries of the human soul.
02/14/01
Top CriticThe story takes too long to set up, and the movie goes limp despite its eight-day time frame that's supposed to create tension.
01/01/00
Vaughn labors mightily under the obviousness of the script, while managing to reveal a fragile but profound fear of being an aging frat boy who longs to realize a finer, better self, only to be petrified that quality isn't within him.
06/05/02
Return to Paradise isn't a bad film. It's just one that doesn't live up to its potential.
01/01/00
An eminently respectable effort without ever becoming a compelling one.
01/01/00
Despite solid performances from the leads, it comes shrouded in a heavy cloud of ethics-class complications that makes it feel like a "dilemma of the week" TV movie.
10/04/09
Granted, Vaughn's character arc is a wonder to behold, but I can't help but think that these characters just aren't the sort of guys anyone's really going to give a damn about.
01/01/00
This is a major example of a good idea, one that could have worked, being submitted to a Hollywood tag-team makeover.
01/01/00
What if director Joseph Ruben didn't resort to B-movie suspense tricks? What if the fine cast wasn't saddled with a shamelessly contrived script by Wesley Strick and Bruce Robinson?
05/11/01
Top CriticNo review available.
07/12/02
Vince Vaughn finally gives a performance putting him in the serious actor category, Joaquin Phoenix is notable and Anne Heche is believable as the impassioned attorney fighting for the life of her client.
12/06/05
Phoenix, who was memorable in To Die For, is unearthly here as a man reduced to a wraith by miserable prison conditions and hopelessness. As an actor, he seems to have abandoned his body entirely in order to communicate only through his spirit.
01/01/00
The real discovery ... is Vince Vaughn, who didn't make as much of a splash in Jurassic Park: The Lost World as he was expected to. Now he does.
01/01/00
Top CriticSurprisingly effective, if highly unlikely, drama of the soul and the conscience.
01/01/00
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