A feminine hygiene commercial is by far the best thing here. Is that last item a curious thing to say about a film with such a weighty agenda? Exactly.
Comment
11/21/03
The Event (2003)
43
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:20
Rotten:27
Average Rating:5.2/10
Theatrical Release:Oct 3, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: In the mid- to late 1980s, films such as AN EARLY FROST, PARTING GLANCES, and LONGTIME COMPANION began examining the growing AIDS crisis. Thom Fitzgerald's moving THE EVENT shows that AIDS is still... [More]
Starring: Olympia Dukakis, Parker Posey, Sarah Polley, Don McKellar
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
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Reviews for The Event
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12/19/03
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12/02/03
The Event's greatest strength is the quiet way in which it depicts the ravages of the virus.
04/27/03
To make a movie in 2003, one that centers around AIDS but ignores the epidemic's current culprit, Africa, and toys melodramatically with scenarios steeped in the filmmakers' selfish nostalgia without any real point, is to ask us not to think at all.
12/18/03
The topic is thought-provoking, the flashback-based structure is interesting, and there are surprising twists near the end. But there's also an overdose of sentimentality that badly dilutes the picture's impact.
10/02/03
The intricate structure of the movie is well handled but its world is a stifling capsule. Dukakis is in a zone!
10/09/03
A touching tribute to a community celebrating life in the face of tragedy and death.
10/03/03
A stunning performance by Olympia Dukakis as a woman faced with the greatest tragedy a mother can encounter.
07/22/03
Doesn't have the ring of truth to it at all and the forced plot setup is dragged down still further by Parker Posey's flat and unconvincing performance.
10/02/03
The performances of Olympia Dukakis as Matt's mother and Sarah Polley as his sister elevate The Event from melodramatic claptrap to sensitive drama.
11/25/03
Top CriticInvites too many characters to play, some of them one-note, and weighs down the whole affair with a detective-style framework.
10/03/03
Parker Posey and Olympia Dukakis lend their talents to an AIDS suicide film – it has its moments, but the death rattle comes from the genre, not from the central character.
11/24/03
Aggressively drab and granular, the movie feels like a late-'80s AIDS passion play given an ill-fitting post-Sept. 11 makeover.
10/08/03
Plays like a cross between Longtime Companion and the worst-ever episode of Law & Order.
10/01/03
The conversation about euthanasia is a good one to have, no argument here, so go have it instead.
10/20/03
An obviously well-intended, brutally earnest work which nonetheless repeatedly shoots itself in the foot through sheer ineptitude.
10/11/03
A very important film that is as sad as it is uplifting.
02/06/03
content with its own limited horizons
10/06/03
Fifteen years after winning an Oscar for Moonstruck, Olympia Dukakis strikes gold once again as the matriarch of a New York family devastated by AIDS.
10/02/03
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