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Movies / On DVD / The Beach
The Beach

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The Beach (2000)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:4

Rotten:26

Average Rating:3.9/10

Consensus: Critics say The Beach is unfocused and muddled, a shallow adaptation of the novel it is based on. Points go to the gorgeous cinematography, though.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Richard (DiCaprio) is a typical twenty-something American whose head is filled with an absurd amount of pop-culture and video game references. While travelling in Thailand in order to broaden his... Richard (DiCaprio) is a typical twenty-something American whose head is filled with an absurd amount of pop-culture and video game references. While travelling in Thailand in order to broaden his horizons and gain some real world experience, he meets Daffy (Carlyle), a crazy Englishman who gives Richard a mysterious map before committing suicide. Apparently the map leads to an idyllic island where the inhabitants live in a natural paradise. Intrigued, Richard convinces two French acquaintances, Francoise and Etienne (Ledoyen and Canet), to journey with him and see if Daffy was right. Upon reaching the island, Richard discovers that it does, in fact, appear to be the dream that Daffy had promised. They meet Sal (Swinton), a strong-willed woman and leader of the group. Sal has made a pact with the weapon-wielding drug dealers who control the island that her group can remain there provided no new bodies arrive. Richard has a brief tryst with Francoise, but she abandons him when she discovers that he has had another sexual encounter while gathering supplies from the mainland. And when two drugged-out Americans show up and crash the party, Richard's newfound Utopia is threatened once and for all. [More]

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle, Paterson Joseph, Jerry Swindall, Peter Youngblood Hills, Lars Arentz Hansen, Staffan Kihlbom, Magnus Lindgren, Victoria Smurfit

Director: Danny Boyle

Director: Danny Boyle
Screenwriter: John Hodge
Producer: Andrew MacDonald
Composer: Angelo Badalamenti

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jul 25, 2000

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Reviews for The Beach

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
03/31/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
08/07/04
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ultimately, it seems more bland than bad.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/22/02
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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The Beach, designed to provoke audiences, stops for too many Hollywood moments to get the job done.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
05/11/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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Plays like a combination of The Blue Lagoon and a video game.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/01/00
Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You can throw this adaptation of Alex Garland's novel back into the sea.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Beach is not a terrible movie, just an insubstantial one.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Beach wears its self-importance on its sleeve, but never truly earns it.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Ernest Hardy
Ernest Hardy
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

DiCaprio has shifted from giving performance -- and often good performance -- to giving persona, and The Beach is nothing if not a vehicle engineered for that shift.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
01/01/00
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

DiCaprio especially is to be congratulated. He proves once again he's more than just another pretty face.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
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The last 40 minutes aren't merely dissatisfying -- they're virtually unbearable.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The real downfall of the movie is that there's only so much meaningful interplay you can get out of a beachful of slackers and some tanning oil.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
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It's Beach Blanket Bingo revisited, but with a Eurocast and more exotic locations.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
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The film does not aspire to sociology. It just wants to tell a story. And that it does well.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeff Millar
Jeff Millar
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Beach needed a director, because it's a little tough to tell what Danny Boyle was doing all those months in Thailand.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
01/01/00
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Leo is surprisingly masculine, charming and effective in this stylish, gorgeous, but clumsily structured Nintendo-generation update of Lord of the Flies.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Tedious and unsatisfying.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Structured for an audience more familiar with MTV's Road Rules than with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A movie that tries to take us from heaven to hell but winds up leaving us in limbo: exasperated and dumfounded.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Beach taps into something powerful that can't be overwhelmed by individual moments of silliness.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for The Beach

December 07, 2006: Critical Consensus: "Apocalypto" Is Bloody Good; "Blood Diamond" Needs Polish; "Unaccompanied" Is Minor; "Holiday" Is So-So
This week at the movies, we've got declining civilizations ("Apocalypto," directed by Mel Gibson), conflict diamonds ("Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo... More...

August 24, 2005: Danny Boyle's "Sun" Begins to Shine
Thanks to ComingSoon.net for sharing a press release from Fox Searchlight regarding Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" -- and the fact that it began shooting yesterday. More...

June 29, 2005: Leo Takes a Fancy to Zwick's "Diamond"
Director Ed Zwick ("Glory") and his frequent writing partner, Marshall Herskovitz, will bring "The Blood Diamond" to the big screen, and they're hoping to... More...

February 04, 2005: "Halo" Floating Toward the Big Screen
Microsoft is close to finalizing terms with writer Alex Garland to script a film based upon the "Halo" video games, Variety reports. The game is one of the most... More...

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