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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Watcher, The
Universal Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for violence and language.
Starring
Ernie Hudson,
Keanu Reeves,
James Spader,
and
Marisa Tomei
A former FBI agent (Spader) tracking a serial killer (Reeves) gives up solving the crimes after 8 years. The agent moves to another city, but the killer finds him and starts sending photographs of new victims -- one of which is (Tomei), the agent's psychiatrist.
GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
WRITTEN BY: |
Darcy Meyers (story)
David Elliot (also story)
Clay Ayers
|
DIRECTED BY: |
Joe Charbanic
|
RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 20, 2001
Video: February 20, 2001
Theatrical: September 8, 2000
|
RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
50
TNT RoughCut
J. Rentilly
What distinguishes The Watcher from all the films it consciously or unconsciously emulates is the intermittently witty, offbeat writing of debuting screenwriter David Elliot.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The actors cannot be faulted. They bring more to the story than it really deserves.
50
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
This thriller largely succeeds in putting quotation marks around its use of genre conventions, mixing subtlety and overkill to create a pensive mood that transcends the plot.
50
USA Today
Andy Seiler
It's still the same sick story. Even the small touches seem stale.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Has its compelling moments, and its playfully inventive ones, too.
42
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Reeves is a stiff dancer and he delivers his lines in a full leather jacket monotone.
41
Mr. Showbiz
Cody Clark
The satisfaction of watching it essentially boils down to seeing whether or not Reeves can pull it off.
40
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Leaves me wanting to watch Tomei and company in something more worthy of their abilities.
40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
If Reeves weren't onboard this picture would have gone straight to video.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Sluggish and preposterous, full of violence and cliches.
38
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Isn't even worth a glance.
30
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
Once the terror ends and the credits roll, we finally get to the best part: a merciful escape.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
A hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles can't disguise the fact that this dismal thriller is all situation and no story.
25
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
A story about unmotivated characters trapped in an ill-conceived plot.
25
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It's lively but fails to disguise the fact that his (Charbanic) script is a dud and his career in videos has taught him little about the art of narrative storytelling.
25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The picture's real interest lies in detailing the villain's sadistic crimes, though, and this is rarely fun or edifying to watch.
25
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
A crass, mechanical attempt at a thriller that should have gone straight to video.
25
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The movie is paint-by-numbers with several numbers skipped.
20
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Neither acutely suspenseful nor particularly thrilling but instead mainly numbing.
20
Variety
Joe Leydon
Emerges as a formulaic thriller that plays more like direct-to-video fare than a megaplex-worthy feature.
20
Salon.com
Mary Elizabeth Williams
It stinks pretty bad, but not so bad you'd go out of your way to avoid it.
20
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
Fails to fulfill.
20
Village Voice
Mark Holcomb
Sidesteps any juicy subtext in favor of routine chase-movie thrills.
15
TNT RoughCut
Andy Klein
An uninspired, standard-issue mimeo whose only distinguishing feature is a reversal in its casting.
10
Film.com
Robert Horton
A dismal new serial-killer thing.
10
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
By the end of The Watcher you'll need your own prescription.
10
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It's something no one should watch.
0
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
A shockingly, unbelievably bad movie.
The average user rating for this movie is 3.8 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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