Some viewers may well find Chapter 27 sleazy or distasteful, and I won't argue the point. But Schaefer's movie creates its own highly compelling world, which is pretty much the prime directive in filmmaking.
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01/25/07
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Chapter 27 (2008)
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Reviews Counted:45
Fresh:9
Rotten:36
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: Despite Jared Leto's committed performance, Chapter 27 fails to penetrate to mind of Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s killer.
Theatrical Release:Mar 28, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: What went on in the mind of the man who felt compelled to assassinate John Lennon? Chapter 27 deftly pilots us into the dark psyche of Mark David Chapman the weekend before the December 8, 1980,... [More]
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Reviews for Chapter 27
Top CriticChapter 27 is a smart attempt to distill the twisted psychology and motivation of Mark David Chapman, which we've all superficially gleaned through mass-media reports and intermittent updates on Chapman's incarceration.
01/30/07
Leto's drawling, blotchy, creepy performance sets it apart.
03/28/08
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.
04/18/08
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.
04/24/08
Top CriticChapter 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.
04/09/08
Top CriticEven if you are only moderately curious about the events that led up to the pointless death of a musical icon, I think you’ll find it a film of arm-twisting fascination.
03/26/08
Top CriticThis 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.
03/31/08
Top CriticLeto's performance is as great a physical, if not emotional, transformation as Charlize Theron's "hagging it up" for Monster.
03/25/08
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.
04/21/08
[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.
04/03/08
In fact, the real problems with Chapter 27 is it vagueness. Everyone here - Leto, Lohan, Friedlander - leaves us in the lurch, and nothing Schaefer does can save our confusion.
03/28/08
Imagine hanging out in the head of a psychotic, indefensible loser for 80 minutes and getting nothing worth remembering or admiring in return.
04/24/08
"I hate the movies. They're phony, so goddamned phony." Poor Mark David Chapman: no matter how many times he rejects the world of celebrity and phoniness, he's dragged back inside.
03/27/08
However much objectivity the filmmakers try to bring to it, there is an inescapable element of glorification of thoroughly reprehensible characters.
03/28/08
In order to play John Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman, actor Jared Leto gained some 70 pounds. Seemingly following his lead, the pic itself is heavy, lethargic, and exasperating.
01/29/07
Top CriticThis misbegotten psychological portrait eagerly foregrounds Leto's excess blubber and histrionic blather, delivered like bad improv outside the Dakota building.
03/25/08
Top CriticWorth seeing for Leto's performance ... but its slow, meandering pace tends to be its undoing.
01/24/07
A failed attempt to probe dramatically the inner workings of the troubled mind of John Lennon's assassin in a chronicle replete with shallow Freudian observations about delusion and paranoia.
03/23/08
The film manages to be entirely about Mark David Chapman without saying a single insightful thing about him.
04/14/08
Latest News for Chapter 27
March 25, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
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: a funny and well-acted drama about relationships and the creative process; a... More...
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