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07/21/05
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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2003)
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:15
Rotten:9
Average Rating:5.9/10
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
Top CriticWhat Leone did for cowboys and crime, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands does for a more contemporary genre.
10/10/03
Top CriticSome strong performances make it go by fairly painlessly, but inconsistencies involving plot and character keep it from ever being more than marginally involving.
10/09/03
Top CriticThe movie is so busy being quirky that it's hard to relate to it.
10/02/03
Top CriticA little tedious to sit through.
09/26/03
Top CriticAlways predictable in its outcome, but it still retains a certain charm.
09/26/03
Top CriticOnce Upon a Time in the Midlands is all over the place.
09/26/03
Top CriticThough Shirley is supposed to be torn between the passion of her younger days and the tender yet boring Dek, there seems to be little chemistry between her and Jimmy.
09/25/03
Top CriticMeadows has complained that financial backers forced him to cut a third of his Midlands script. The suspicion persists that he cut the wrong third.
09/21/03
Top CriticA movie that just barely avoids sickening sentimentality with its sudden swerves into anarchic comedy.
09/20/03
Top CriticEvokes the atmosphere of a Sergio Leone Western, sneaking up under the movie's human comedy and adding a smile.
09/19/03
Top CriticMeadows clearly has a flair for working with actors and for depicting the rough-and-tumble of ordinary provincial lives. If he could go just a bit deeper, the truly great Midlands movie just might surface.
09/18/03
Top Critic[A] charming family story.
09/12/03
Top CriticA spotty yet ingratiating working-class farce that suggests a Mike Leigh movie with opera buffa tendencies.
09/05/03
Top CriticShould 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 Critic[A]n affectionate and funny takeoff on a spaghetti Western...
09/02/03
Top CriticAs depicted without affection by director Shane Meadows, his screeching actors and his overzealous set designer, the area is a step below trailer-trash culture and the main activities are bingo, hurling insults and airing one's dirty laundry on TV.
08/29/03
Top CriticIfans' sniveling strains our sympathies, but the supporting cast is terrific.
08/28/03
Top CriticIt has a generosity toward all of its characters that would give any film an endearing lightheartedness.
08/28/03
Top CriticIt's a compelling and ambitious idea, but one that misfires because of its underwhelming characters and slack storytelling.
08/28/03
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