The film manages to generate genuine sweetness.
Comment
08/04/05
Wondrous Oblivion (2006)
65
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:40
Fresh:26
Rotten:14
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: This coming-of-age/cricket tale wants to be touching, but is too often sappy.
Theatrical Release:Nov 3, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Eleven year old David Wiseman is mad about cricket but no good at it. He has all the kit but none of the skill, and he's a laughing stock at school. So when a Jamaican family move in next door and... [More]
Starring: Sam Smith, Delroy Lindo, Stanley Townsend, Emily Woof
Director: Paul Morrison
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Reviews for Wondrous Oblivion
David's favorite exclamation is "wondrous!" %u2014 which happens to be a fitting description for the talents of writer/director Paul Morrison.
02/01/07
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05/12/07
Ultimately, it's an earnest rites-of-passage drama that's likely to work better on the small screen.
04/20/04
A family film with a difference, Wondrous Oblivion displays real bite as it incisively tackles such adult subjects as racism, anti-Semitism, adultery and the plight of immigrants in an intolerant land.
11/23/06
Wondrous Oblivion is a timeless tale of an 11-year-old South London boy putting aside boyish things. Writer-director Paul Morrison affirms PG-rated life lessons that could appeal to 11-year-olds and their elders alike.
01/12/07
Lindo gives a powerhouse performance of immense feeling and subtlety.
11/02/06
The challenges of friendship across color lines.
06/17/07
People who aren't fans of cricket or just don't get the rules (i.e. about 99.9% of the U.S. population) might be chronically frustrated.
10/31/06
The story is just too simpleminded, as though aimed not quite at grown-ups.
04/24/04
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12/30/06
It's too lightweight to truly succeed as a memorable social drama, but the film's sweet-natured, eager-to-please tone -- backed by Smith's appealing performance -- makes for enjoyable viewing.
05/14/04
Wondrous Oblivion goes awry in its sloppy racial drama, and although the cricket-training montages are good, they're still training montages, and this is just that kind of overfamiliar movie.
11/01/06
Evocative, beautifully photographed and skillfully directed.
03/01/07
Morrison doesn't seem clear where he's going. He really needs a finely focused resolution to highlight the issues he raises so sharply along the way.
02/13/04
Charming British drama.
07/20/04
Without the attractive young women and with a game far less exciting to the uninitiated, Oblivion lacks the spark of [Bend It Like Beckham].
05/05/04
For all its bright-hued nostalgia (the cricket greens are practically incandescent), Wondrous Oblivion edges up to hard truths, most powerfully expressed in Lindo's towering performance.
12/30/06
Good intentions and some nicely playful moments go a long way toward balancing out Paul Morrison's uneven story of British immigrants in the early 1960s.
11/03/06
[The film] strikes a curiously cheerful note in these singularly cheerless times.
11/01/06
Top CriticLatest News for Wondrous Oblivion
November 02, 2006:
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This week at the movies brings us the profound discoveries of a great Kazak journalist ("Borat," starring Sacha Baron Cohen), a battle between Santa and Jack Frost... More...
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