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09/08/03
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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2003)
51
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Reviews Counted:72
Fresh:37
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: Though the concept is interesting and quirky, the drama fails to deliver.
Theatrical Release:Aug 29, 2003 Limited
Synopsis: A British family drama with a Western flare, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS starts out as a chaotic comedy of familial dysfunction and then changes into an emotional tale of love and loss. At the... [More]
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Shirley Henderson, Ricky Tomlinson
Director: Shane Meadows
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Reviews for Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
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12/30/06
Midlands is all over the place. But if you can handle a movie that slips from the silly to the sublime -- and can understand those thick Brit accents -- you might feel at home with this tale.
08/28/03
Always predictable in its outcome, but it still retains a certain charm.
09/26/03
Should Blighty stake its screen future on action-adventure? Family fun? Sex satire? Modernized music hall? Post-modern movie-movie? Meadows' answer is 'All of the above.'
09/03/03
Top CriticBy the end of Midlands, what started out as a cast of sheerly cartoonish characters stumble their way toward true and touching humanity.
08/29/03
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands gets off some rapid-fire comic shots. . . . a daffy, charm-your-pants-off kitchen-sink comedy.
01/16/04
[A] charming family story.
09/12/03
Top CriticOnce Upon A Time In the Midlands is another well-made piffle. Cute, funny, good enough
09/20/02
It smartly delineates the hard choices that people without many options must make, and its treatment of their conflicted situations is respectful but highly comic.
08/21/02
At its best, the new film by Shane Meadows suggests works by British social realist Ken Loach and Scottish social satirist Bill Forsyth, with a through-line from Mike Leigh's dysfunctional family tale Life Is Sweet.
10/09/03
A movie saved by great acting.
08/27/03
It has a generosity toward all of its characters that would give any film an endearing lightheartedness.
08/28/03
Top CriticOnce Upon a Time in the Midlands is an English comedy about some scruffy survivors who square off against an intruder who comes to town to reclaim his woman who is living with another man.
08/29/03
This movie's just so-so, but at its heart lies a true leading lady.
09/17/03
Offbeat, daring and really quite a treat.
10/06/02
If you ever wondered what High Noon might be like if Gary Cooper had a weakness for bangers and mash, now you know.
10/01/03
It's safe to say that Leone has never in his career made anything as goofy -- or as sweet -- as this comedy.
10/17/03
Henderson of the velvet-and- helium voice makes a princess without rival.
08/26/03
The acting is superb.
08/28/03
Top CriticWhat’s Hot On RT
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