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When Will I Be Loved (2004)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 71
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 48

Neve Campbell bares all in this seemingly misogynistic trifle.

Average Rating: 4.3/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 20

Neve Campbell bares all in this seemingly misogynistic trifle.

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Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 2,998

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Movie Info

Directed by James Toback, the erotic drama When Will I Be Loved? revolves around Vera, the debutante girlfriend (Neve Campbell) of a fast-talking hustler (Frederick Weller) who is on the verge of making millions through a big-money gambling venture. Feeling undervalued, Vera explores her sexuality through whatever means she can think of, including explicit discussions with a potential employer, picking up random men, and videotaping steamy trysts with her female lover. When Ford (Weller)

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Drama

Directed By: James Toback

Written By: James Toback

In Theaters: Jun 6, 2004 Wide

On DVD: Jan 25, 2005

IFC Films

When Will I Be Loved Trailer & Photos

More Photos (9)

Cast

Critic Reviews for When Will I Be Loved

All Critics (73) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (49) | DVD (8)

The slapdash plot, paper-thin characters, misogynist undertones, and mechanical crosscutting are all soft-core standbys.

February 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Mr. Weller's Ford Welles attains a new extreme of self-loathing on Mr. Toback's part: This compulsive chain-talker has even less charm, substance, dignity or wit than any of his self-hating predecessors.

October 1, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Observer

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Andrew Sarris

New York Observer

Top Critic

Another art film that's more pretentious than it needs to be.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Ruthe Stein

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Most atrocious movies build into their badness, as lacks of talent, ideas, self-confidence, or a total hatred of an audience, are revealed. This one gets it out of the way up front and never looks back.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

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Wesley Morris

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Like a jazz solo that touches familiar themes on its way to a triumphant and unexpected conclusion.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Collapses under the weight of its own pretension, a victim of misogyny trying to pass itself off as female sexual empowerment.

September 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

Top Critic

Not in the foreseeable future, that's when, assuming your name is James Toback and you insist on making phonily provocative movies.

August 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out New York

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Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

Many viewers will be turned off by this depraved look inside the darkest corners of one filmmaker's psyche, but I found it refreshing and quite daring.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Too pointless to be artsy and too decorous to be sexy.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Christopher Zinsli

Film Threat

Tries hard to be endearingly eccentric but crashes in a web of its own convolution.

September 26, 2005 Full Review Source: FilmFocus

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Joe Utichi

FilmFocus

Campbell is clearly having a great time with such a duplicitous, multi-layered character and as a result, it's her sexiest performance to date.

September 24, 2005 Full Review Source: ViewLondon

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Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

If you're looking for something hip, brisk and sexy, then this is a pretty decent proposal.

September 20, 2005 Full Review Source: BBC

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Matthew Leyland

BBC

Despite the fact that the central character is a very strong woman, the film is essentially a male fantasy.

September 18, 2005 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

[Don't] mistake it for anything new.

March 3, 2005 Comment

Stuart Klawans

Nation

The most disturbing aspect is that Vera's selfish introversion doesn't require dramatic exaggeration; the extent of her greed is common enough to almost pass unnoticed.

March 1, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Mark Palermo

Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

This is a pretentious, borderline misogynistic film that seems to have grown out of Toback's fantasy that when he's '70, he'll still be able to bed beautiful women

January 26, 2005 Comment

Sarah Chauncey

Reel.com

Jeffrey Lyons may be quoted on the front cover, but a real critic (ahem) is quoted on the back.

January 12, 2005 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

As desnecess�rias participa��es especiais irritam um pouco, mas as fascinantes conversas entre Vera e seus admiradores salvam o filme.

December 8, 2004 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

The story behind this deeply explicit drama often falls short -- in fact, it's arguable if there even is a story -- but the quality of its words keeps it fresh and compelling.

October 28, 2004 Comment

Phoebe Flowers

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Careening and indulgent... a triple-loose oration on gender, power, wealth and age that asserts its points without ever owning them.

October 5, 2004 Full Review Source: Entertainment Today

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Brent Simon

Entertainment Today

The opening and closing nude scenes serve no purpose in the story except to sell tickets - Neve, you've been pimped.

September 26, 2004 Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com

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Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone

TheMovieChicks.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for When Will I Be Loved

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Compelling and pretensious, but Neve Campbell gives one of her best performances.

November 5, 2006

E.J. Boxler

Super Reviewer

In "When Will I Be Loved", Ford(Frederick Weller) is a two-bit hustler who sees a chance to make it into the big time by using his upper class girlfriend, Vera(Neve Campbell), as bait. Count Tommaso Lupo(Dominic Chianese), a billionaire communications mogul, is infatuated with Vera and by introducing the count to her,

July 12, 2006