The odd-couple melding isn't without a crack or two ... Still, at the film's (considerable) best, the contrasting styles of the novelist and the director dovetail beautifully.
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09/01/05
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The Constant Gardener (2005)
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Reviews Counted:178
Fresh:148
Rotten:30
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: The Constant Gardener is a smart, gripping, and suspenseful thriller with rich performances from the leads.
Theatrical Release:Aug 31, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $33,565,375
Synopsis: Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, whose previous film, CITY OF GOD, won awards all over the world--and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2004 Oscars--has crafted another... [More]
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy
Director: Fernando Meirelles
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Reviews for The Constant Gardener
Ultimately, it offers reassurance that the rat-infested system doesn't need to be smashed, only cleansed.
09/01/05
Patience pays off in this immensely satisfying, rapturously urgent thriller-romance. Fernando Meirelles breaks from traditional trappings for one of the year's best movies.
09/01/05
Drug company execs will probably say Carrot Top's Chairman of the Board was better made, but The Constant Gardner definitely has the Oscar formula down.
09/01/05
[Fiennes and Weisz] turn the movie from a conventional political tract to an emotional rite of discovery.
09/01/05
As its taciturn title might suggest, The Constant Gardener could have used a major injection of forcefulness.
08/31/05
It’s interesting and absorbing enough that I can’t call it a failure, but it doesn’t cohere enough to qualify as a success.
08/31/05
Solid old-fashioned thriller that is a murder mystery, a love story and a social conscious tale all rolled into one.
08/31/05
A spectacular oasis in a desert of summer disappointment, The Constant Gardener blooms with a tragic, bittersweet beauty that should make it an early Oscar contender.
08/31/05
Meirelles clearly trusts his actors, particularly Fiennes and Weisz: The plot of The Constant Gardener is fairly intricate, but in the end, the story is told mostly in their faces.
08/31/05
Top CriticThe Constant Gardener is beautifully structured, an artful mix of forward motion and flashbacks.
08/31/05
Top CriticThe director's fluttering hand keeps the ground constantly shifting beneath our feet, which is just what this beautifully wrenching adaptation for the screen requires.
08/31/05
Top CriticA political drama that assumes you'll be able to keep up.
08/31/05
Smart, well-crafted and satisfying.
08/31/05
An engrossing, intelligent, emotionally powerful and mostly well-acted adaptation of a thriller by John Le Carré that works as both a nail-biting adventure and a sobering lesson on the ongoing apocalypse of the continent.
08/31/05
The filmmakers' extra effort to ensure authenticity results in that rare feature film that informs as well as entertains.
08/31/05
Noble intentions and some lovely performances... too bad the director keeps getting in their way.
08/31/05
The filmmaker's assurance and vision in reimagining the novel are downright inspiring.
08/31/05
If the personal story works better, though, it's partly to default: As a political thriller, Gardener has a few holes.
08/31/05
Viewers who like real-world issues interwoven with their fiction -- much in the style of author John Le Carré, whose novel is the basis for this movie -- should find plenty to chew on.
08/31/05
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