Venus (2006)

All Critics (156) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (136) | Rotten (17) | DVD (17)

O'Toole spent so many years being better than the little material that he was offered that it's heartening to see him sprint toward the finish of his career with such a flourish. If this is his curtain call, it's a glorious one.

February 9, 2007 Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

If only [director] Michell's film actually said something about aging, and didn't feel the need to include Grumpy Old Men shtick and bland bossa nova-inflected pop.

February 3, 2007 Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

Top Critic

Venus belongs to O'Toole. This is, hands down, my favorite performance of the year, largely because I love the way O'Toole (and the filmmakers) refuse to yield to the all-too-pervasive idea that it's 'icky' for old people to even think about sex.

February 3, 2007 Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek

Salon.com

Top Critic

The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles, they say, and Peter O'Toole, 74, proves the point in Venus.

January 26, 2007

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Venus is a fine reminder of the wonders we're presented with every day.

January 26, 2007 Full Review

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

Venus is emotionally affecting, not because O'Toole's Maurice is coping with mortality, but because of the honest way he confronts it.

January 26, 2007 Full Review

Terry Lawson

Detroit Free Press

Top Critic

A starring vehicle for an aging star who receives deafening awards buzz not so much for the performance than, it seems, for simply being alive.

January 20, 2012 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

It's a pleasure to have Peter O'Toole's company here - likely for the last time in a role of such magnitude & majesty, bangs still swept back in boyish wisps and his sky-blue eyes vibrant and hungry. A loving, lyrical, eloquent sonnet to elderly sunsets.

November 22, 2010 Full Review

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Worth seeing for O'Toole's incorrigible twilight jesting

August 28, 2009 Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Peter O'Toole is the most loveable lecher of them all.

August 28, 2008 Full Review

Heather Huntington

ReelzChannel.com

While age may have devoured O'Toole's youth, it has been utterly unable to touch his blistering talent, or his eyes which still sparkle with rakish light.

February 28, 2008 Full Review

Brandon Fibbs

BrandonFibbs.com

The only thing that resonated with me was O'Toole, who is at his playful best playing a role made to order for him of the boozer rascal who could charm a snake.

February 22, 2008 Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Superb acting on life's journey; not for kids.

October 22, 2007 Full Review

Pam Gelman

Common Sense Media

Una comedia dramática agridulce donde brilla con luz propia el formidable Peter O'Toole, en un papel que tiene mucho de sí mismo.

September 22, 2007 Full Review

Enrique Buchichio

Uruguay Total

There is consequently an authenticity to the movie that's intensified by O'Toole's expectedly masterful performance...

August 4, 2007 Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

What makes Venus unforgettable is not the fine direction and script, or Vanessa Redgrave's startling cameo as Maurice's suffering ex-wife, or Whittaker's award-worthy debut; it's that the viewer can't draw a line between O'Toole's career and Maurice's.

June 8, 2007 Full Review

Brandon Judell

New York Theatre Wire

...looks upon that most fragile of experiences, human relationships, with compassion and dignity and high good humor.

May 18, 2007 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

• 1. Donald: How many columns did he get?
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)
• 1. Valerie: When you die everyone's your friend.
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)
• 1. Ian: There are no pockets in a shroud.
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)
• 1. Jessie: Don't you believe in anything, Maurice?
  2. Maurice: Pleasure I like. I try to give pleasure. It' all I can recommend to anyone.
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)
• 1. Maurice: I am about to die and I know nothing about myself.
  2. Ian: You've been loved, though, Maurice, loved and adored.
  3. Maurice: Yes, and so have you, Ian, a little bit. Except you didn't always notice it.
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)
• 1. Maurice: A woman's body. For most men, the most beautiful thing he will ever see.
  2. Jessie: What's the most beautiful thing a woman sees?
  3. Maurice: Her first child.
  – Submitted by Frances H (7 months ago)

There are no discussion threads for Venus yet.