Memento Reviews
ColeSmithey.com
"Memento" is a crime-revenge story that relies on its one big gimmick.
Full Review
| Original Score: C-
Top CriticMore a puzzle than a meaningful story, it reminds me of how Edmund Wilson compared reading a mystery to eagerly unpacking a box of excelsior, only to find a few rusty nails at the bottom.
Philadelphia Weekly
...for all its formal wizardry, ultimately an ice-cold feat of intellectual gamesmanship. Once the novelty wears off, there's nothing left.
Matinee Magazine
A con in the mode of Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects--the scam of the year.
Full Review
| Original Score: short
Film Snobs
Some have said that the film would work just as well beginning to end. I disagree.
Decent Films Guide
Intriguing and accomplished as it was, Memento left me unpersuaded that this trip was really necessary.
Full Review
| Original Score: C-
New Times
Although it's being trumpeted for its undeniably ambitious narrative structure, Memento feels mostly like an audacious prank.
You might suspect that it's told backwards because telling it forwards would tip us off much sooner that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
San Diego Union-Tribune
It seems less than the sum of its time-slicing moves.
Austin Chronicle
In forward progression, the narrative would garner little interest, thus making the reverse storytelling a filmmaker's conceit.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Nolan uses the structure simply as a gimmick to refresh a stale story of revenge, crime, sex, a film noir that never gets any darker than gris.
I am neither upset nor disturbed by Memento , only vaguely dissatisfied. I simply don't buy Jonathan Nolan's thesis that audiences know all the tropes and tricks of crime thrillers backward and forward.
Common Sense Media
Innovative movie with a mature premise.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)
If Pulp Fiction represents the birth of post-modern filmmaking, Memento marks its adolescent spurt.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4
When it comes to making a Top 10 list for 2001, one title I won't forget is Memento.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Murphy's Movie Reviews
MEMENTO is that rare motion picture that offers a bevy of riches to the audience. It is also the kind of movie that deepens on closer inspection, while multiple viewings are almost required to fully appreciate all it has to offer.
Full Review
| Original Score: A-
Times-Picayune
A brilliantly told mindbender, a perfect example of how the right approach to storytelling can elevate a film
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Film Journal International
The movie forces you to work, but any puzzle addict will be exhilarated by the effort.
