Wish You Were Here (2013)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 41 | Rotten: 16
Smart, slick, and thrilling, Wish You Were Here benefits from a compelling mystery at the center of its tightly wound plot, as well as strong performances from a cast that includes Joel Edgerton.
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 6
Smart, slick, and thrilling, Wish You Were Here benefits from a compelling mystery at the center of its tightly wound plot, as well as strong performances from a cast that includes Joel Edgerton.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 4,437
Movie Info
Kieran Darcy-Smith's feature debut is a calmly devastating exploration of how one misjudged moment in life has the potential to cause everything to fall to pieces. Dave (Joel Edgerton) reluctantly travels to Cambodia with his pregnant wife (co-writer Felicity Price) and her younger sister and new boyfriend, and after a night of partying the boyfriend disappears without a trace. The others are left to return to their lives, each bearing differing degrees of knowledge about what happened.
Watch It Now
Cast
ADVERTISEMENT
Wish You Were Here Trailer & Photos
All Critics (57) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (16)
An Australian mystery-thriller dominated by Joel Edgerton's fearless performance as a compromised married man.
Top CriticWish You Were Here is an excellent idea for a State Department video, to remind travelers the obvious things not to do when visiting an unfamiliar country. As a drama, it feels a little empty.
The mysteries unravel at a steady pace and the dialogue and acting feel naturalistic, adding up to a taut and progressively tangled portrait of familial relations.
A dull drama about domestic squabbling that hopes to be mistaken for a thriller.
The time you spend trying to piece together a mystery that is presented as a teasing puzzle inevitably diverts you from deeper identification with characters who are not particularly sympathetic to begin with.
Even a drug-sniffing police dog gives a vivid performance.
Kieran Darcy-Smiths first feature mixes past and present, some few of such shifts adding to our understanding or familiarity with the returnees and deepening the mystery.
Joel Edgerton gives one of the year's strongest performances.
A film that rewards patience and attention. The filmmaking will draw you in and the acting and story will keep you rooted to your seat.
There are secrets kept and secrets told and Darcy-Smith and company do a marvelous job weaving this tapestry of ambiguity and confrontation.
An old-fashioned, intricate mystery that keeps you in perpetual suspense, developing its plot and characters through the smart incorporation of basic cinematic tools.
Whatever sentiments the title 'Wish You Were Here' evokes in you, flush them. Here is no lighthearted vacation comedy but, instead, a well-acted "psychological thriller" with few thrills but much angst.
Wish You Were Here is best enjoyed by fans of the actors involved or "strangers in a strange land" flicks; it'll be less satisfying to those looking for drama/mystery.
It's an engrossing, dramatic mystery that's filled with terrific performances and raw filmmaking.
Even at its slowest, the insinuating "Wish You Were Here" keeps its grip, like a dream you just can't shake.
I found myself longing for it to reach its destination.
...a twisty psychological thriller rooted in family drama that respects its audience. Little hints are dropped along the way, some suggested by cinematographer Jules O'Loughlin's framing and cutaways, but the film never feels contrived for a moment.
Audience Reviews for Wish You Were Here
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
What's Hot On RT
New Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Naomi Watts is Princess Di
Gravity sets new record
Trailer for a squirrely heist flick
See what's on TV tonight
Latest News on Wish You Were Here
June 6, 2013:
Critics Consensus: The Internship Could Use Some WorkThis week at the movies, we've got entry-level hilarity (The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and...
Fresh Links
Featured
Halloween Movies For Wimps
Scary movies too scary for you? Here are some alternatives for October 31st.
10 Best Superhero TV Shows
HitFix combs through TV history to compile a superpowered list.
Ridiculous Movie Mistakes
RollingStone proves even the best movies miss a details here and there.
Deadly Movie Kids
Moviefone lists 11 Movie Kids Who Could Kick Our Asses.
50 States, 50 Movies
For July 4th, TimeOut has compiled 50 state-specific movie choices.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- NYFF: Joaquin Phoenix and James Gray talk The Immigrant 0
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Gravity Stuns with Record $55M Launch 29
- Primetime Preview: Witches of East End, Once Upon a Time and More 2
- Weekly Ketchup: Disney Plans Live Action Cruella de Vil Movie 35
- Primetime Preview: Last Man Standing, The Neighbors and More 5
- Critics Consensus: Gravity is Certified Fresh 68
- Parental Guidance: Gravity and Parkland 2
Top Headlines
I was sold from the opening credits, with its colourful montage of Cambodia, oh-so-right music, and beautifully subtle, faded in title. One of the best openings I've seen in ages!
Then there's that car crash. It's really a measure of how much I'd invested, and the film had got me to invest in Felicity Price's Alice by this point. The dread of her getting pulled up by the police, the relief that she's got away with something, been given a chance after realising what she'd done, and then, before you know it, I suddenly braced myself, ducked my head, and felt the full impact of that crash, without even seeing it happen.