Russian Doll

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Russian Doll Photos

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Movie Info

A romantic comedy set in Sydney, Australia, Russian Doll centers around an unlikely love triangle. Ethan (David Wenham) is a married book publisher who meets the captivating Katia (Natalia Novikova), a young Jewish woman from St. Petersburg. They are madly in love, but in order for Katia to stay in the country, she must marry. Ethan recruits his pal Harvey (Hugo Weaving), a private investigator who has aspirations of becoming a crime novelist. While investigating Katia, Ethan also becomes enticed by her, and he and Katia soon embark on an affair of their own. Katia is torn between the two men and must decide with whom she'd rather spend the rest of her life. The film also features Ilusha Bayer and Michael Britvan.

Rating:

R (adult situations)
Genre:

Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed By:

Stavros Kazantzidis
Written By:

Stavros Kazantzidis
In Theaters:

Apr 6, 2001 wide
Runtime:

90 minutes
Studio:

Lot 47 Films

Cast

Hugo Weaving
as Harvey

Natalia Novikova
as Katia

Natalya Novikova
as Katia

David Wenham
as Ethan

Rebecca Frith
as Miriam

Sacha Horler
as Liza

Helen Dallimore
as Alison

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Critic Reviews for Russian Doll

All Critics (25) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (13)

A breezy pleasure.

Sep 7, 2001

Cary Darling
Miami Herald
Top Critic
A talky, plodding romantic comedy in which the viewer is just waiting for the obvious plot twist to happen. And when it does, it's too unconvincing to feel satisfying.

Aug 8, 2001

Malcolm Ritter
Associated Press
Top Critic
Quickly becomes silly and tedious.

Aug 3, 2001 | Rating: 1.5/5 | Full Review…

Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
A tone of lame amiability doesn't compensate for lack of invention.

Aug 2, 2001

Desmond Ryan
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic
Suffers from a slow-paced, contrived script.

Jun 20, 2001

Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic
It conceals beneath its amiable ethnic facade a diminished version of every generic boy-meets-girl trifle to come out of Hollywood.

Jun 15, 2001 | Full Review…

Jan Stuart
Newsday
Top Critic
There's a charm in these romantic developments that overcomes all its staleness.

Jan 3, 2003 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Slightly campy, intriguing and fun!

Oct 12, 2002 | Rating: 4/5

Michael Szymanski
Zap2it.com
Weaving is wonderful as always but the real surprise is Novikova who displays a quirky charm and movie star charisma in her first lead role.

Dec 21, 2001 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Ted Murphy
Baseline.Hollywood.com
Only the farcical setup itself fails, but it can be swallowed for the sake of these enjoyable performances.

Sep 7, 2001

Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Generic as it is, it has tangible heart.

Aug 14, 2001 | Full Review…

Rachel Hyland
PopMatters
Earns its green card for being a humorous and pleasant-enough diversion.

Jun 15, 2001 | Full Review…

E! Staff
E! Online

View All Critic Reviews (25)

Audience Reviews for Russian Doll

Sep 20, 2015

For many of us Yanks there's little experience with the world of film from the land down under (unless a film breaks the ranks and becomes a international sensation), and that's why you mightn't've seen Hugo Weaving act like a regular guy in this Australian offering. He plays a wannabe writer who's unlucky in love until his best friend asks that he house his new girlfriend for a minute. Guess what happens next? In the meantime there's the gratuitous use of popular songs played over the usual montage of shots of the mismatched couple falling for each other that so overdone its overdone already. The twist here is that she's a Russian, and so the couple visit Russian restaurants and we get to see Weaving experience that, or they go to a Russian nightclub and try Russian dancing ... you get the picture. Natalia Novikova does the foreign "other" pretty well and Weaving plays "not a bad guy for a change". Its not as offensive as I described. I think.

Kevin M. W Super Reviewer