Gerry (2002)
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 99
Fresh: 60 | Rotten: 39
The type of uncompromising film that divides filmgoers over whether it is profound or pretentious.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 14
The type of uncompromising film that divides filmgoers over whether it is profound or pretentious.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 9,177
My Rating
Movie Info
Gus Van Sant returned to his roots in experimental filmmaking with this offbeat feature, whose dialogue was entirely improvised by its two person cast. Two men named Gerry (played by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) are driving through the desert regions of Death Valley, traveling towards an unknown destination. They pull over and set out on foot, presuming they're getting close to what they've come to find. Before long, Gerry and Gerry are both lost in an unforgiving desert without food, water, or
Cast
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Casey Affleck
Gerry -
Matt Damon
Gerry
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All Critics (111) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (41) | DVD (17)
The two stars...[Casey Affleck and Matt Damon]...both playing characters named Gerry, wander across the desert for some reason, and if you enjoy watching them on any pretext, you'll probably enjoy this; if you don't, you won't.
Top CriticYou have to stay with Gerry, which starts out as a willful stunt, turns into a sadistic endurance test and ends up as something surprisingly affable and engaging.
If you can get lost along with it, Van Sant's Gerry is actually anything but empty: At times it's tonically liberating.
Fascinating, even if perversely so, and quite beautiful.
If nothing else, Gerry is restful, though I'm not sure that counts as a recommendation.
Now we know what happens when director Gus Van Sant gets bored. He makes us bored.
A difficult, demanding sit, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fascinating and rewarding a film if it weren't.
Gerry, in all ways, is a film geek film. Not for mass consumption, perhaps, but nonetheless a potent expression for those that like this sort of thing.
Likely to sharply divide critics, Gerry goes back to his indie roots with a minimalist work that carries itself almost entirely through the awesome yet austere visuals and sounds.
Absolutely transfixing at one moment and unbearably boring the next.
Although the images from the film are poetic and are more fondly recalled in hindsight, in this case art film for art film's sake doesn't fly very high.
Hiking for Godot: Van Sant's existential Blair Witch Project's daemon lurks within.
Audience Reviews for Gerry
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Foreign Titles
- Gerry (DE)
- Gerry (2003) (CA)
I do admire Gerry when it comes to images. With his cinematographer Harris Savides, Van Sant creates striking images that will certainly take your breath away, but for me film are more than images. To work they need also interesting story and Gerry does not have one.
The screenplay, penned by Van Sant with his stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, is so thin that it is actually surprise that anyone takes credit for it. Cinema does not have to be about destination, it is certainly more about the journey, but if the journey is boring, well then you might have trouble and Gerry is honestly a bit boring. It is a nice idea stretched into a long film when possibly the right solution would be to keep it as a short film.
There are moments of brilliance in this film, but there are too many flaws here also to make it anything more than a average film from Van Sant. Hypnotic sound design by great Leslie Shatz deserves a special mention here and the film's atmosphere is overall wonderfully eerie. Too bad that it does not work as a whole.