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Movies / On DVD / Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon

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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.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for sexuality, language and drug use

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

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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Release:

Jul 15, 2003

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Reviews for Laurel Canyon

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61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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Laurel Canyon is froth, but fun.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
03/29/03
Jean Lowerison
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

Like Shampoo, the movie is a comical carousel of beautifully joined overlaps.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
03/28/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

[A] tame exercise in hedonism and self-discovery.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
03/28/03
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Too stilted and pre-programmed to come alive.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/28/03
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The hills are alive with the sound of rock and roll, and the people of Laurel Canyon are learning new songs to live by.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
03/28/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

More obvious and superficial with, except for Ms. McDormand, rather soapy and cartoonish elements.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
03/27/03
Jane Sumner
Jane Sumner
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An engaging, entertaining glimpse into the lives of musicians nestled in the titular Hollywood Hills enclave.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/27/03
Loren King
Loren King
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: www.susangranger.com | comment Comment
03/27/03
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

A simmering soap opera with a much stronger cast than it deserves. ... [Its] edges are so smooth that it feels like it has been processed by some photo editing software.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
03/17/03
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

it goes without saying that McDormand is the high point of Laurel Canyon. She tears through the stiff, paper-thin movie with a sense of complete freedom, the same way Geena Davis did in The Accidental Tourist.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/17/03
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

A flawed but smart independent film whose virtues outweigh its flaws, and whose virtues are distinct.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
03/14/03
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a pleasant, good-natured film that's easy to enjoy.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
03/14/03
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

Maybe it's that Cholodenko's more familiar with New York and loath to be too critical of another town, but Laurel Canyon lacks the sense of risk that High Art had, and in doing so, emasculates its apparent protagonist in Sam.

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
03/14/03
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

May not be the deepest film around, but the sharp writing, an able cast and sensitive direction make it an engaging one.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
03/14/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
03/14/03
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Nitrate Online

...well-acted but unadventurous in its allegorical depiction of temptation and personal growth.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
03/14/03
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Rock-and-roll tale of temptation in paradise looks great ... and works thanks to McDormand's fearless performance.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
03/13/03
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

Well-cast, sporadically engaging but easily forgettable.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
03/13/03
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Thank goodness for Nivola ... who makes a charming degenerate, and McDormand in her sexiest role to date. They make up for a bunch of sins.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
03/13/03
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Vacuous, elitist.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
03/13/03
Mary F. Pols
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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