So unspeakably bad is screenwriter John August's debut as director, so hilariously unaware is the film of its overweening pretensions that it's tempting to want to deem it a Hollywood writer's fever dream.
4 Comments
08/30/07
The Nines (2007)
67
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:58
Fresh:39
Rotten:19
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: 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.
Theatrical Release:Aug 31, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: John August, who has written such diverse films as GO, BIG FISH, CORPSE BRIDE, and CHARLIE'S ANGELS, makes his directorial debut with THE NINES, a complex, thought-provoking work divided into three... [More]
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, Elle Fanning
Director: John August
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Reviews for The Nines
A rather aimless and convoluted brain teaser that attempts to transfer the kind of introspective discourse literary device of novels, that is best just left on the page.
08/31/07
The movie never fails to be crisply written and cannily delivered, but it's way too steeped in TV-culture inside jokes for its own good, and August's attempts to suffuse the whole thing with ontological or theological meaning are ultimately pretty dumb.
08/29/07
Top CriticHow do ridiculous films like The Nines (the latest bit of quasimystical nonsense in the Magnolia mold) constitute serious Sundance fare?
08/30/07
The payoff fizzles, but the buildup is intriguing until it topples under its own weight.
08/31/07
With an almost Donnie Darko sense of apocalyptic mystery, writer-director August really gets our heads spinning.
11/17/07
An intriguing post-modern take on TV, film and gaming culture, with a revelatory performance from the former Van Wilder.
11/28/07
An amusing journey through the nature of reality with a bit of Hinduism thrown in that sadly collapses into new-age nonsense towards the end.
11/30/07
Clever and fun with compelling lead performances... Maybe it's all a message of sympathy for the fourth, unseen Reynolds before us, the one we stop thinking about who only exists after the last frame of The Nines runs through the projector.
08/30/07
The plot tumbles so far down the rabbit hole it breaks its leg and plunges the audience into the dark.
12/07/07
It defies categorisation, which I love, and defies logic, which is very European. But it's also clever, funny and compelling
10/04/08
Definitely worth a look.
11/30/07
Sometimes a product's creative integrity requires that it not quite attain a ten - but when it comes to the cinema of big ideas, The Nines is as close to divine perfection as you are likely to get.
11/30/07
The sharpest, subtlest satire of a California stereotype since Evan Rachel Woods’... in the too-little-seen Pretty Persuasion.
08/30/07
Overly gimmicky and ultimately frustrating it may be, but at its best The Nines feels like a triple-bill of 'Twilight Zone' episodes written by Charlie Kaufman - creepy, oddball and clever.
11/30/07
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10/18/08
Does not work one’s id into a tizzy in the manner that Lynch’s Mulholland Drive or Ozon’s Swimming Pool, two films that bear loose association, do.
08/31/07
August may be peddling some absurd New age "secret", but at least it allows him the benefit of stronger and more coherent storytelling.
04/16/08
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'.
01/22/08
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.
01/16/08
Latest News for The Nines
September 07, 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 commentary track," CHUD has some excellent news for you. More...
August 22, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
July 23, 2007:
The Nines as a movie is ultimately everything but, to say the least.
More...
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 Fanning, is a cliched stab at Southern Gothic with echoes of Faulkner, and... More...
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