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The Nines (2006)

tomatometer

64

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 39 | Rotten: 22

Though The Nines doesn't solidify as well as writer/director John August would hope for, Ryan Reynolds's strong performance makes each of the film's intriguing segments worth watching.

70

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 3

Though The Nines doesn't solidify as well as writer/director John August would hope for, Ryan Reynolds's strong performance makes each of the film's intriguing segments worth watching.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 42,840

My Rating

Movie Info

Writer/director John August ponders the metaphysical aspects of life and art in an episodic allegory that follows three artists as they embark on a soul searching journey of fate versus free will. When a troubled actor is placed under house arrest in "The Prisoner," his imagination begins to run wild due to the fact that his spirited publicist and cynical neighbor provide his only link to the outside world. Later, after the planes of reality fold in on themselves during the production of a

Jan 29, 2008

Newmarket

Cast

All Critics (62) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (24) | DVD (12)

The cosmic "resolution" that ties the stories together proves less interesting than the stories themselves.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Newsday | Comment
Newsday
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Nines, which in real life began as a TV project, wavers uncomfortably between satire and dime-store existentialism on the big screen.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
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The dialogue snaps, crackles and pops. And confusing as they may be, the stories are never boring.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bright and vicious, desperate and cruel, the characters of the first two stories pop with a kind of nihilistic joie de vivre that makes you want to hug them and kill them at once.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Confusing? Yes, and intentionally so. But it's never boring.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Associated Press | Comment
Associated Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Nines is a philosophical mind teaser with satirical fangs.

August 31, 2007 Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It defies categorisation, which I love, and defies logic, which is very European. But it's also clever, funny and compelling

October 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

An interesting, if high minded, concept film that is nothing without its performers.

September 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

The sort of movie that would probably appeal to Ryan Reynolds' detractors . . .

August 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | Comment

August is on solid ground when he's riffing on Stephen King and celebrities, but he's stretching when he tries to be David Lynch, which would require a distinctly different kind of brain damage.

June 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | Comment
Paste Magazine

August may be peddling some absurd New age "secret", but at least it allows him the benefit of stronger and more coherent storytelling.

April 16, 2008 Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | Comment
CinemaBlend.com

Em sua estréia como diretor de longas, August faz jus à inteligência de seu roteiro intrincado, criando uma história tensa e instigante que surpreende tanto como ficção quanto como reflexão metafísica/religiosa. Além disso, o elenco revela-se fortíssimo.

February 8, 2008 Comment
Cinema em Cena

When I read that Ryan Reynolds was playing not one, but three characters in this movie -- one of whom is gay -- my ticket pretty much bought itself. They had me at 'himbo'.

January 22, 2008 Full Review Source: AfterElton.com | Comment
AfterElton.com

Most of the action, such as it is, plays out behind the camera and in the back rooms off the set, as Hollywood types bicker, backbite and betray. Yawn.

January 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Overall, I responded to The Nines as a sly Cronenbergian chess game of the mind. As impenetrable as it becomes, it's easy to perceive that this is straight-from-the-heart work from August.

January 16, 2008 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | Comment
DVDTalk.com

There are two full-length audio commentaries on the disc.

January 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment (1)
Apollo Guide

The plot tumbles so far down the rabbit hole it breaks its leg and plunges the audience into the dark.

December 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment (1)
Eye for Film

I have no clue whether this is the most religious film of the year, or the most blasphemous film of the year.

December 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment (1)
Apollo Guide

Let's avoid such extremes, and note merely that he's made a film that's funny ha-ha as well as funny peculiar; an exercise in navel-gazing that tickles all the senses.

November 30, 2007 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Definitely worth a look.

November 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Independent | Comment
Independent
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Nines

Susan: Do you feel like a man? Because I'll tell you a little secret - you're not. "Y9u never kn9w when y9ur number is up."The Nines is a very interesting film with a clever concept that seems to get too wrapped up in itself. John August seems to try too hard to confuse everyone throughout when just the idea in itself

August 25, 2011
blkbomb
Melvin White

Super Reviewer

Melissa McCarthy is one of the most adorable fat chicks ive seen in a while. Hope Davis will still be beautiful when the apocalypse comes. Ryan Reynolds finally makes a movie as good as himself.

June 23, 2009
LoughnerWasLucid

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for The Nines

September 7, 2007:
Director's Commentary: Not Just for DVDs Anymore?
If you've ever sat in a darkened theater and thought to yourself "What this movie really needs is a...

January 23, 2007:
Sundance: "Hounddog" Is A Dog; "The Nines" Scores High
Read on for some short reviews of films playing at Sundance: "Hounddog," starring Dakota...

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