What begins as yet another school-set thriller gradually evolves into something more psychologically layered.
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10/18/02
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Abandon (2002)
17
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:108
Fresh:18
Rotten:90
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: The plotline for Abandon is too disjointed and muddled to offer much in the way of thrills.
Theatrical Release:Oct 18, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $10,684,049
Synopsis: Oscar-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC) makes his directorial debut with ABANDON, a dense, moody psychological thriller. Loosely based on the book ADAM'S FALL by Sean Desmond, ABANDON... [More]
Starring: Katie Holmes, Charlie Hunnam, Benjamin Bratt, Zooey Deschanel
Director: Stephen Gaghan, Edward Zwick
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Reviews for Abandon
A puppy dog so desperate for attention it nearly breaks its little neck trying to perform entertaining tricks.
10/18/02
I don't see why a movie was made out of so banal a story, or why Gaghan works in such a portentious style.
10/17/02
...the last time I saw a theater full of people constantly checking their watches was during my SATs.
10/17/02
Abandon is such a schizophrenic picture (or is that giving away too much?) that you’ll either appreciate what Gaghan was trying to do or scoff at how silly its earnestness is.
10/17/02
[The title's] unintentional effect is to presage the sense of torment the viewer experiences as he or she is buried deep inside the movie's unrewarding ramblings.
10/17/02
A plodding and overly ambitious psychological thriller that's all build up and no pay-off.
10/17/02
There's so little going on in the film that its title seems to suggest an action that audiences may be driven to take before the movie ends.
10/17/02
Top CriticConsider the title your best advice. These 99 minutes roll by like 99 years.
10/17/02
Top CriticThe film gets so bogged down in style that its lack of substance is all the more apparent.
10/17/02
This is one of those movies that depends heavily on bonehead plot twists in which people behave inconsistently and idiotically.
10/17/02
It's just plain boring.
10/17/02
shows Holmes has the screen presence to become a major-league leading lady, (but) the movie itself is an underachiever, a psychological mystery that takes its sweet time building to a climax that's scarcely a surprise by the time it arrives.
10/17/02
A trite psychological thriller designed to keep the audience guessing and guessing -- which is not to be confused with suspecting -- until it comes time to wrap things up and send the viewers home.
10/17/02
Top CriticA dark, dull thriller with a parting shot that misfires.
10/17/02
We get the sneaking suspicion that internal logic and a credible ending have left the building.
10/17/02
Wretched, thrill-free thriller.
10/17/02
Gaghan captures the half-lit, sometimes creepy intimacy of college dorm rooms, a subtlety that makes the silly, over-the-top coda especially disappointing.
10/17/02
Too much of this well-acted but dangerously slow thriller feels like a preamble to a bigger, more complicated story, one that never materializes.
10/17/02
The next big thing's not-so-big (and not-so-hot) directorial debut.
10/17/02
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