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Chapter 27

Chapter 27 (2006)

tomatometer

18

Average Rating: 3.8/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 40

Despite Jared Leto's committed performance, Chapter 27 fails to penetrate to mind of Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer.

50

Average Rating: 4.8/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 8

Despite Jared Leto's committed performance, Chapter 27 fails to penetrate to mind of Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer.

audience

42

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 8,166

My Rating

Movie Info

First-time writer/director J.P. Schaefer takes the reins for this haunting look at the mental collapse of Mark David Chapman in the days leading up to the murder of legendary musician John Lennon. Jared Leto stars as the man whose awe of Lennon and unrelenting drive to achieve infamy pushed him to pull the trigger on the former Beatle, and Lindsay Lohan stars as the devoted Lennon fan who befriended the killer on that fateful New York weekend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

R, 1 hr. 24 min.

Drama

J.P. Schaefer

Sep 30, 2008

Vitagraph Films

Cast

All Critics (49) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (41) | DVD (6)

his drama, about the three days leading up to the murder, never overcomes its inherent ghoulishness, largely because Chapman, like so many mentally ill people, is a huge bore.

April 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Chapter 27 just makes you feel bad for, and about, everybody -- including the wretched souls who made the thing.

April 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment (1)
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By the end of this modest, strange venture, Leto made me believe it was worth being forced to hang out on the sidewalk with this man, if only to get a creeping sense of what that might've been like.

April 24, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film is impressively mounted and Schaefer has made a directorial debut of distinction, but it is an uncomfortable ride from the opening scenes of Chapman arriving in New York to the inevitable, inexorable final scene.

April 18, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Chapter 27 is far from flawless, but Leto disappears inside this angry, mouth-breathing psycho geek with a conviction that had me hanging on his every delusion.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a very tough film to watch, especially for Beatles fans that worshipped Lennon, but it does provide a thought-provoking take on the inner workings of Mark David Chapman's twisted mind.

March 31, 2008 Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mature, slow-moving Lennon assassination drama.

May 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Despite all his obvious effort and admirable Stanislavskian immersion, his Chapman is pure cinematic affectation, a compendium of great movie madmen of the past.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

The eternal question of why Chapman shot Lennon is not answered. And that's probably because there IS no real reason.

July 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comments (6)
Urban Cinefile

Imagine hanging out in the head of a psychotic, indefensible loser for 80 minutes and getting nothing worth remembering or admiring in return.

April 24, 2008 Full Review Source: The Deadbolt | Comment
The Deadbolt

Despite the subject, the script is flat. Despite using the real locations, the production looked cheesy. Finally, the decision to strip Mark David Chapman (John Lennon's killer) of any humanity makes the narrative decidedly one note.

April 21, 2008 Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | Comment
HollywoodChicago.com

Stop the madness and please avoid this film at all costs.

April 18, 2008 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | Comment
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

The film manages to be entirely about Mark David Chapman without saying a single insightful thing about him.

April 14, 2008 Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | Comment
EricDSnider.com

If [director] Schaefer's intent was to provide some sort of insight into Chapman's character, some hint of explanation for this senseless tragedy, he fails, probably because there's none to be found beyond one lonely guy's addled brain chemistry.

April 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Oregonian | Comment
Oregonian

There are cheesy special effects and even cheesier gags, and the schmaltz eventually piles on neck-deep.

April 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Miami Herald | Comment (1)
Miami Herald

It's a train-wreck turn in a dreary movie about a self-pitying loser responsible for murdering a beloved pop icon.

April 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | Comment
Los Angeles Daily News

[Leto's] mumbled voiceover may perfectly reflect Chapman's inner world. [But] who wants to enter that world? Neither Chapman ... nor his inner life is very interesting ... I was looking at my watch before the first third of the movie had passed.

April 3, 2008 Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Chapter 27

Lindsay plays her future self in a movie about some fuck with a gun and sideburns and he thinks hes Holden bla bla bla "John Lennon, sign my baseball cap, please!" that fucker didn't sign it... bla back to the crust hotel room cigarettes big sweaty gut, prostitute, "please please just be quiet while we make sex, i like

September 4, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

Not exactly what I expected of this film, of course it represents the facts along with some assumptions no doubt, of the events leading up to the assassination of John Lennon and Jared Leto did play a very visually transformed character, along with (I'm sure) a very good interpretation of the man who became famous of

June 27, 2007
76Majikat

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for Chapter 27

January 26, 2007:
Sundance Review: "Starting Out in the Evening" Is Funny; "Chapter 27" Needs to Lose Weight; "Once" Has Charms
Senh caught the screenings of three films making their stop at the Sundance Film Festival this week:...

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