Shazam!
High Life
Widows
The Walking Dead
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified.
Please reference “Error Code 2121” when contacting customer service.
No consensus yet.
All Critics (15) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)
A talented but terminally parched piece of literary cinema. Feb 23, 2012 | Full Review…
A talented but terminally parched piece of literary cinema.
Variety Staff
It's a brave endeavour, held together by Robert Elswit's poetic photography, and by Irons' authoritative impression of the crumbling desperation behind the chalk-dusted facade of a pensive history man. Jan 26, 2006 | Full Review…
It's a brave endeavour, held together by Robert Elswit's poetic photography, and by Irons' authoritative impression of the crumbling desperation behind the chalk-dusted facade of a pensive history man.
With a dazed, frightened expression and the keen sense that his life is coming undone, Mr. Irons's Tom becomes a rivetingly sad figure, and a sharp focus for the film's many reveries. May 20, 2003 | Rating: 3.5/5
With a dazed, frightened expression and the keen sense that his life is coming undone, Mr. Irons's Tom becomes a rivetingly sad figure, and a sharp focus for the film's many reveries.
Janet Maslin
The adaptation doesn't quite hold. But in this flashback narrative, set in England's beautiful eastern wetlands, there are many passages of filmic -- and geographic -- beauty. Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
The adaptation doesn't quite hold. But in this flashback narrative, set in England's beautiful eastern wetlands, there are many passages of filmic -- and geographic -- beauty.
The strange fact about "Waterland" is the way the performances and the dialogue are worthier than the story itself. Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
The strange fact about "Waterland" is the way the performances and the dialogue are worthier than the story itself.
Roger Ebert
Swift's elegant, descriptive phrases coexist inelegantly with classroom vulgarisms. And there almost making it all work as a portrait in despondency and realization is Irons, a walking requiem to lost innocence. Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
Swift's elegant, descriptive phrases coexist inelegantly with classroom vulgarisms. And there almost making it all work as a portrait in despondency and realization is Irons, a walking requiem to lost innocence.
Rita Kempley
The odd thing about Waterland is that despite the extreme evens it depicts -- murder, incest, betrayal, drowning, abortion, baby-snatching, madness, job losses etc. -- it seems rather tame. Jul 23, 2018 | Full Review…
The odd thing about Waterland is that despite the extreme evens it depicts -- murder, incest, betrayal, drowning, abortion, baby-snatching, madness, job losses etc. -- it seems rather tame.
Vanessa Letts
Screenwriter Peter Prince's adaptation of Graham Swift's much praised novel has a keen surreal edge that slices through barriers separating the past and the present. Apr 24, 2018 | Full Review…
Screenwriter Peter Prince's adaptation of Graham Swift's much praised novel has a keen surreal edge that slices through barriers separating the past and the present.
Owen McNally
Incest, drowning, teenage sex on a train: it's all here, but none of it clings to your mind. Jan 3, 2018 | Full Review…
Incest, drowning, teenage sex on a train: it's all here, but none of it clings to your mind.
Anthony Lane
A flawed adaptation of Swift's novel, though the acting of Jeremy Irons and others is good. Jul 15, 2011 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…
A flawed adaptation of Swift's novel, though the acting of Jeremy Irons and others is good.
Emanuel Levy
Too often the film is overly impressed with its own devices, and the story unfolds in such a haphazard manner that its emotions are muted. Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
Too often the film is overly impressed with its own devices, and the story unfolds in such a haphazard manner that its emotions are muted.
Chris Hicks
Gyllenhaal refers to Waterland as "a world of the mind." and it is an experience definitely worth exploring. Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Gyllenhaal refers to Waterland as "a world of the mind." and it is an experience definitely worth exploring.
Pamela Bruce
Based on the novel by Graham Swift - a wonderful British author - Waterland tells the story of a history teacher who tells his students as much about himself as he does history. What is strong about the novel is what is weak about the film. The novel explores a post-modern conception of history that suggests we get stuck in these endless spirals of ironic happenstance, and in order to understand it all, we must go back, and in order to understand what we see when we go back, we must go back farther and farther. There's a little bit of this in the film, but certainly not enough for the audience to understand Swift's point. Instead of a complex exploration of post-modern theory and history, we're left with a fairly basic film about a man dealing with the events of his childhood. And how does that story fair? Not badly. It has its moments of affecting drama, both in the present and the past, but it's devoid of any grand significance. Additionally, the ending is too intentionally vague. We're given to understand certain conclusions about these characters' futures, but we can't figure out how they get from the point A, when the credits roll, to the point B, which we are told will happen. What is more, the plot-line between Crick and Price ends in a disappointing cliche. Overall, I think I should like this film less than I do. In the end, I think the source material, Swift's book, is so good, and the performances by Irons, Cusack, and Warnock were good enough to make up for the failings of the screenwriter and director.
Super Reviewer
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.
View All