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Dorian Gray (2009)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 36
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 21

Despite a lavish and polished production, Dorian Gray is tame and uninspired with a lifeless performance by Ben Barnes in the title role.

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0

Despite a lavish and polished production, Dorian Gray is tame and uninspired with a lifeless performance by Ben Barnes in the title role.

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Movie Info

A vain London playboy offers his soul in exchange for eternal beauty in this adaptation of the chilling tale by author Oscar Wilde. Seduced into the decadent world of Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth), handsome young aristocrat Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) becomes obsessed with maintaining his youthful appearance, and commissions a special portrait that will weather the winds of time while he remains forever young. When Gray's obsession spirals out of control, his desperate attempts to safeguard his

R, 1 hr. 52 min.

Drama, Horror

Directed By: Oliver Parker

In Theaters: Sep 9, 2009 Wide

On DVD: Aug 24, 2010

Alliance Films

Dorian Gray Trailer & Photos

More Photos (11)

Cast

Ben Barnes
Dorian Gray
Colin Firth
Lord Henry Wooton
Ben Chaplin
Basil Hallward
Rebecca Hall
Emily Wooton
Douglas Henshall
Alan Campbell
Rachel Hurd-Wood
Sybil Vane
Fiona Shaw

Critic Reviews for Dorian Gray

All Critics (36) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (21) | DVD (4)

While Wilde's wit remains firmly entrenched, there's also a gruesome vein of gothic horror, and elements of the original which existed in the subtext or were merely hinted at are brought graphically into the open.

August 24, 2010 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

...a misfire of nigh epic proportions...

February 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment (1)

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Like the painting, B-grade horror movie fast loses appeal.

December 31, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au

| Comment

Don Groves

sbs.com.au

A dismal mess.

September 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Film Threat

| Comment

Phil Hall

Film Threat

click to read full review

March 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses

| Comment

Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

If it was Oscar Wilde who said that experience is the name that everyone gives to their mistakes, then this Dorian Gray is quite an experience!

November 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Screenwize

| Comments (3)

Simon Weaving

Screenwize

This uneasy mixture of horror and elegant wit, which worked so well originally, never really catches fire thanks to Parker's undistinguished handling.

November 11, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia)

| Comment (1)

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

Colin Firth is perfect as the devil's advocate, as this adaptation of 19th century gothic taps into the modern zeitgeist.

November 11, 2009 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia)

| Comment

Colin Fraser

FILMINK (Australia)

It's a morality tale told through amorality and the pursuit of pleasures of the flesh

November 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

| Comment

Andrew L. Urban

Urban Cinefile

There's an edge of psychological horror in director Oliver Parker's third Oscar Wilde story that tells how Ben Barnes' Dorian Gray sells his soul to the devil in return for his youth and beauty

November 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

| Comment

Louise Keller

Urban Cinefile

By leaving nothing up to the imagination, Parker destroys the very essence of the film.

September 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine

| Comment

Barbara Goslawski

Boxoffice Magazine

An impressive character piece that explores important themes ... as well as embellishing aspects of the original story that have never been fleshed out so elaborately.

September 18, 2009 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net

| Comment

Edward Douglas

ComingSoon.net

Depravity is better suggested than made explicit when it becomes vulgar, pornographic or comic, and possibly all three.

September 18, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment

Philip French

Observer [UK]

A sturdy piece of heritage horror, as tasteful and handsome as any Brit movie with bustles and frock-coats on its agenda.

September 14, 2009 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine

| Comment

Nick Setchfield

SFX Magazine

A very respectful retelling and study of man's inherent quest for self-destruction given the removal of personal ramifications.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Dread Central

| Comment

Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton

Dread Central

Teenagers will love this film. They will love it because there are lots of close-ups of Barnes being done unto or doing unto others. As a vehicle for a rising and undeniably talented star, it hits the spot.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment (1)

This is London

An ambitious if decidedly uneven interpretation of the last great Gothic horror novel.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Will Lawrence

Empire Magazine

These are interesting ideas, but they would work better if there was more decadence on show earlier on to nail Gray's corruption.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

Wilde survives intact - and with some flair - although the results will do more for sixth-form literature students and their teachers than for film connoisseurs.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Matt Glasby

Film4

Some neat formal flourishes from its director Oliver Parker and a truly handsome supporting turn from Colin Firth, this story demands a more versatile and charismatic central player than the powerfully blank Ben Barnes.

September 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Times [UK]

| Comment

Kevin Maher

Times [UK]

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Audience Reviews for Dorian Gray

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I haven't read the book so I have no idea if this is a respectful adaptation or not but personally I found that, although there are moments I could recognise Oscar Wilde's words, they were very far and few between. I didn't dislike the film but I get the feeling there was probably more to the story in the book. The CGI

March 23, 2012

Anthony Lawrie

Super Reviewer

A British aesthete realizes that a painting of him manifests all the physical evidence of anything he does.I'm trying not to be the snobby literature teacher whom everybody hated in high school or that literature survey class you were forced to take Freshman year, but the distortions that Oscar Wilde's masterpiece was

January 7, 2012

Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

Dorian Gray Quotes

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1. Lord Henry Wooton: I suggest we raise a little hell.
– Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)
1. Lord Henry Wooton: 'Conscience.' It's just a polite word for 'cowardice.' No civilized man regrets a pleasure.
– Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)