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Laurel Canyon (2003)
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Reviews Counted:107
Fresh:72
Rotten:35
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Though the movie itself is flawed, McDormand is fantastic as Jane.
Theatrical Release:Mar 7, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $3,596,939
Synopsis: Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The... Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The canyon is notable for its varied residents through the years and has served, and continues to, as the home to many rock stars, musicians, performers, producers, and the like. Among its current residents are Jane (Frances McDormand), a legendary record producer, currently producing an album for a British band whose lead singer Ian (Allesandro Nivola) is her much younger lover. Jane and the band are creating the album in her Laurel Canyon house where she has a recording studio. Jane’s son Sam (Christian Bale) and his fiancée Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are both recent graduates of Harvard medical school. Conservative, solid and serious, the couple find it necessary to move to Los Angeles to complete their studies: Sam is completing his Residency at the renowned Hausman Neuropsychiatric Institute, while Alex is intent on completing her dissertation on Drosophilia Genomics. Jane has offered her Laurel Canyon home for them to stay in, promising that it will be vacant. But when Sam and Alex arrive Jane and the Band are still working in Jane’s home recording studio to complete the album. Sam and Alex begrudgingly stay at Jane’s house until they can find an alternative place to live. Once in the house, however, things begin to slowly unravel. Alex’s attraction to Jane’s and Ian’s freewheeling lifestyle and Sam’s hesitancy about renewing a relationship with his wayward mother as well as his growing attraction to fellow medical resident Sara (Natascha McElhone) slowly fill the house with tension and doubt... -- © 2002 Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone
Starring: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, Alessandro Nivola, Melissa De Sousa
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko
Producer: Susan A. Stover, Jeff Levy-Hinte
Composer: Craig Wedren
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for Laurel Canyon
It pulled me in with its friendly, inclusive, nonjudgmental appraisal of human nature.
Despite a great ensemble of actors, it will leave you hanging from a cliff.
'We're left with a film that doesn't create enough interest in what went on in those Laurel Canyon backyards to justify pulling over and watching.'
No matter how many times she pushes her specs up her nose Beckinsale is never going to be believable as a nerd. Bale as a psychiatrist: it’s easier to envisage him as Batman.
Frances McDormand lets loose in a terrific new role as record producer, mother, and corrupter of curious girls.
'Laurel Canyon' is a little dangerous, a bit unconventional and very seductive.
...essentially worth checking out if only for the performances and Cholodenko's admittedly steady directorial hand.
Latest News for Laurel Canyon
October 19, 2006:
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