Demonstrates that the transmission of HIV has become an uncontrollable global pandemic that feeds on poverty and recognizes no sexual, national or religious borders.
1 Comment
12/01/06
Rate this Movie 
3 Needles (2006)
35
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:13
Rotten:24
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: In getting its message about the AIDS epidemic across, the film unfortunately sacrifices story and character.
Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Canadian writer-director Thom Fitzgerald's sweeping 3 NEEDLES journeys across several continents to show just how widespread HIV/AIDS has become in our modern world. Three distinct stories are... [More]
Starring: Shawn Ashmore, Lucy Liu, Stockard Channing, Olympia Dukakis
Director: Thom Fitzgerald
Get This Movie
Reviews for 3 Needles
It sometimes produces moments of unexpected power. It also produces a bizarre and fatally uneven movie, veering from black comedy to maudlin religiosity, which seems to have been made in total defiance of both narrative conventions and emotional logic.
11/29/06
Top CriticWhile fraught with structural problems because it over-reaches, Thom Fitzgerald's film is still a wonder in terms of ambition and social relevance.
04/21/06
A powerful piece, 3 Needles ultimately fails to cohere as narrative, but there can be few more compassionate films playing at the festival this year.
02/09/06
Making serious points about serious issues, the film underscores repeatedly the need for personal and official vigilance concerning "the virus,"
12/21/06
As a movie with an important message, 3 Needles is an idiotic waste of time.
05/27/07
Sprawling from Montreal to South Africa to China, Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles is a great discussion tool for World AIDS Awareness Day that never achieves coherent shape as a three-paneled drama.
10/06/05
Top Criticgreat performances and the heartbreaking dilemmas
04/17/07
Each of these stories is a hissy fit of heinous proportions, one progressively worse than the other: all end on a sickeningly satisfied note of irony, tied together with hectoring narration that suggests a yuletide story.
11/07/06
Who wants to see anything as hopeless and cynical as this?
11/30/06
3 Needles, Thom Fitzgerald's globe-spanning investigation of the effects of AIDS, may ultimately be a call to unity, but there's an extreme amount of despair and misery before we get to hear that trumpet blare.
12/01/06
Three riveting dramas about the AIDS crisis set in South Africa, China, and Canada that open our eyes and our hearts to victims of this dread disease.
12/03/06
If nothing else, [director Thom] Fitzgerald has demonstrated how huge a challenge the AIDS epidemic is on a worldwide scale, and how it will take a concerted, intelligent effort to solve it. It'll take a lot more than throwing money around.
12/01/06
A marginally involving dramatization of how peopledeal with AIDS in 3 separate cultures
12/22/06
Only the African story feels complete, while the Chinese story is gloomily hopeless and the Montreal story is just a bad idea. 3 Needles is not about AIDS; it's about the exploitation of it.
12/01/06
Top CriticProvocative and ambitious.
11/30/06
Top CriticIt's gorgeously filmed, but its character logic very rarely makes any sense.
11/30/06
3 Needles is difficult to take at times, but it ultimately rewards those viewers willing to meet its challenges.
12/01/06
By the time the movie returned to Africa, it had lost me despite its talented cast and its noble intentions.
11/29/06
Top CriticGive me a little Sevigny and somehow the landscape of the heart and mind changes. For me, her qualities were all the salvation I needed. Without them, Purgatory, here I come!
10/26/06
Latest News for 3 Needles
December 05, 2006:
RTIndie: Stephen Frears Talks "The Queen" and Oscars; Almodovar And Cruz To Re-Team; Slamdance Lineup Set
In making "The Queen," Stephen Frears has directed one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and made $49 million in global box office returns to boot.... More...
November 30, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Nativity" Is Too Safe; "Turistas" Not Worth Trip
This week at the movies, we've got a new take on the first Noel ("The Nativity Story," starring Keisha Castle-Hughes), endangered Americans in Brazil... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds