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Abandon (2002)

tomatometer

17

Average Rating: 4.3/10
Reviews Counted: 109
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 91

The plotline for Abandon is too disjointed and muddled to offer much in the way of thrills.

25

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 21

The plotline for Abandon is too disjointed and muddled to offer much in the way of thrills.

audience

36

liked it
Average Rating: 2.7/5
User Ratings: 12,812

My Rating

Movie Info

A young woman is faced with the disturbing reemergence of a man she once loved in this psychological thriller. Embry Langan (Charlie Hunnam) was a wealthy but reckless student at an exclusive private college until he mysteriously vanished, with airline tickets to Europe left unused and plenty of money still in the bank. Two years later, Katie Burke (Katie Holmes), Embry's girlfriend, is still dealing with his disappearance as she goes into the home stretch of her college career. With exams, a

PG-13,

Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

Stephen Gaghan

Mar 18, 2003

$10.7M

Paramount Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (115) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (92) | DVD (13)

It's a bad sign in a thriller when you instantly know whodunit.

October 25, 2002
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Gaghan] successfully illustrates that if a filmmaker is capable and intelligent -- and assumes that his audience is the same -- he can transcend the limitations of even so lowly a genre.

October 25, 2002 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hardly a nuanced portrait of a young woman's breakdown, the film nevertheless works up a few scares.

October 22, 2002 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's light on the chills and heavy on the atmospheric weirdness, and there are moments of jaw-droppingly odd behavior -- yet I found it weirdly appealing.

October 21, 2002 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pic's structure and last-minute disclosures entirely betray any personal investment the viewer has made in this low-key yarn, which will cause audiences to feel ambushed and sullied at fadeout.

October 18, 2002 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The title helpfully offers the most succinct review of it you'll read anywhere.

October 18, 2002 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It really is almost impressive how bad this is.

September 2, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

A flimsy and tedious thriller.

January 2, 2009 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com
TheMovieReport.com

The film's final twist is admittedly quite effective, though it doesn't even remotely justify the interminable build-up leading into it.

January 4, 2007 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

Might have been titled Fatal Attraction -- The College Years.

June 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Lacked an emotionally endearing story.

June 21, 2004 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The twist ending ... becomes discernible around the midway point, but Gaghan makes up for it ...

January 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

O ritmo lento e o final previsível (e absurdo) comprometem o filme irremediavelmente.

November 16, 2003
Cinema em Cena

In the end, the film is less the cheap thriller you'd expect than it is a fairly revealing study of its two main characters - damaged-goods people whose orbits will inevitably and dangerously collide.

June 27, 2003 Full Review

Abandon is a damn good movie.

March 27, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

Nothing is more frustrating than a movie that banks on a twist ending that it telegraphs 30 minutes before climax.

March 21, 2003

The biggest problem with Abandon is that all of the buildup ... is seriously boring, disjointed, unfocused, and not interesting in the least.

March 20, 2003 Full Review Source: IGN DVD
IGN DVD

Certainly not a keeper but the good news is that now you can quickly fast-forward to the best parts in the film: every scene with Melanie Lynskey as Creepy Library Girl.

March 13, 2003 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

For what I suppose must be classified as a 'teen thriller,' this film has a surprising amount of substance.

February 8, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Quips Online
Film Quips Online

Meandering and glacially paced, and often just plain dull.

January 8, 2003
Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com

[Its] failure becomes most obvious in retrospect, when the realization dawns that the most affecting, inventive, and honest moments of the film were those that hewed most closely to the original text.

December 18, 2002 Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com
MovieMartyr.com

Audience Reviews for Abandon

Really thought I had reviewed this film some time ago. This film didn't do much for me. Maybe it was the acting of Benjamin Bratt, maybe it was the charater he played, just didn't enjoy this film and that is something rare for me. A 2 star and hope never to watch again.
July 19, 2011
bbcfloridabound
Bruce Bruce

Super Reviewer

Before I start, I know I am in the minority here. In fact, I have been defending this movie for years. After all, "Abandon" came out in 2002 and it's now 2011, and after almost 10 years I still keep coming back to this film, regardless of it's popular dislike. Written and directed by Stephen Gagan (Oscar winning scribe of "Traffic"), "Abandon" is extremely generous to multiple viewings. While the basic story is something we have certainly seen many, actually too many, times before, it's the characters and their psychology that really interest me. I find Katie (a wonderful and complex Katie Holmes) to be a very sympathetic character, regardless of her actions. I find something extremely cathartic in her story. Gagan crafts his morbid tale with a dark and stylish atmosphere rather than going for the easy scares others would have. He also tells his story with a shifting time frame that helps you see the world through Katie's eyes. "Abandon" is about the mind and how memories can grab hold, sometimes all too literally. "Abandon" is nothing new exactly, but for me, I really enjoy it. I think it's an involving, moody mystery with a very interesting central character. But then again, I am alone on this one, so go figure.
February 5, 2011
stevenecarrier
Steven Carrier

Super Reviewer

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