RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Femme Fatale (2002)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
48 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:31

Fresh:15

Rotten:16

Average Rating:5.5/10

Consensus: The thriller Femme Fatale is overheated, nonsensical, and silly.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong sexuality, violence and language

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:Nov 6, 2002 Wide

Box Office: $6,543,347

Synopsis: Director Brian De Palma returns to familiar terrain with FEMME FATALE, a loopy, sexy thriller that plays like a "greatest hits" of the controversial director's tics, tricks, and obsessions. Here... Director Brian De Palma returns to familiar terrain with FEMME FATALE, a loopy, sexy thriller that plays like a "greatest hits" of the controversial director's tics, tricks, and obsessions. Here the story follows a beautiful seductress (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos) who betrays her cohorts during an elaborate diamond heist at the Cannes Film Festival, then disappears to America under the stolen identity of a dead French girl to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Seven years later she returns to Paris when her American husband (Peter Coyote) accepts a position as French ambassador. That's when Antonio Banderas, as a goofy photographer, enters the picture and becomes her lover and dupe in another elaborate scheme. Along the way there's steamy lesbianism, misogynistic violence, split-screens, double-crosses, time loops, VERTIGO-style stalking, a hot striptease, and plenty of dark comedy and sly homage to other films, all in the classic De Palma tradition. His fans should be thrilled, as this harkens back to the director's DRESSED TO KILL, BLOW OUT, and BODY DOUBLE days. Novices should prepare to throw credibility to the wind and just enjoy the stylistic bravado, the twists and turns, and the ravishing Stamos--who backs up her beauty with a captivating, enigmatic performance. [More]

Starring: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry

Starring: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry, Rie Rasmussen, Eriq Ebouaney

Director: Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Brian De Palma
Producer: Tarak Ben Ammar, Marina Gefter
Composer: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Studio: Warner Bros.

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
1 - 5 of 14

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

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

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Mar 25, 2003

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Femme Fatale

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/09/08
Lisa Nesselson
Lisa Nesselson
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
04/27/03
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/15/02
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I found myself capitulating to its inspired formalist madness -- something I've resisted in [De Palma's] films for the past 30-odd years.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
11/15/02
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A wonderful ride.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
11/11/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
11/10/02
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No normal person should hurt himself trying to follow the thing.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/08/02
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Great over-the-top moviemaking if you're in a slap-happy mood.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/08/02
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

At least Femme Fatale has an apt title - "femme" because it's about a woman and "fatale" because it makes you want to jump out a window.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
11/08/02
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A feast for hard-core movie or De Palma buffs (and Romijn-Stamos junkies) but a famine for anyone looking for a good story.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
11/07/02
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Pretty amusing when the director apes Hitchcock, and pretty awful when he apes himself.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/06/02
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

More tawdry than titillating, what should have been sultry is more often skanky.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
11/06/02
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sexy and passably entertaining, with a plot that's too clever by half.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
11/06/02
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

De Palma -- a master of kinky, delirious visuals -- hooks you good.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
11/06/02
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The rest of the plot is impossible to explain without blowing whatever tension there is, although it's more comedy than suspense De Palma creates.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
11/06/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

De Palma fools around with split screens and slo-mo, but no amount of cinematic artifice can varnish over the fact that this is simply a bad film.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
11/06/02
Megan Turner
Megan Turner
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a sexy, violent, glamorous, sinfully funny movie with a surface as hard and brilliant as diamonds.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
11/06/02
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The director's many dodges and turns add up to little more than a screenful of gamesmanship that's low on both suspense and payoff.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
11/06/02
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Far more absorbing and tantalizing than most of the plodding, overworked thrillers the studios churn out these days.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
11/06/02
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film has the high-buffed gloss and high-octane jolts you expect of De Palma, but what makes it transporting is that it's also one of the smartest, most pleasurable expressions of pure movie love to come from an American director in years.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/06/02
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Femme Fatale

July 28, 2006: Trailer Bulletin: Hartnett, Scarlett & Swank in De Palma's "Black Dahlia"
Master of suspense / veteran storyteller / admirer of Hitchcock / Brian De Palma has a new film on the horizon, his first since 2002's "Femme Fatale," and it looks to... More...

July 20, 2005: Get Your First Beautifully Gruesome Peek at "Slither"
Chalk it up to a relatively slow news week, but the crew over at CHUD.com just got an exclusive peek at this crazy gory freaked-out monster from an upcoming horror flick called... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

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...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
13
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
34
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
16
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
76
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
37
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
26
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
18
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
17
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Femme Fatale at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Femme Fatale at IGN
  • Femme Fatale at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.