Rating: 
Summary: Don't be fooled...
Review: This is pretentious nonsense at its worst -- cinema for the stoned or for those with incredibly short attention spans. The director does not appear to be able to commit to any particular scene or mood. There are scores of scenes where Ms. Morton appears to have been directed to just "do anything while I pan the camera over you." The one potentially interesting development of the plot, Morvern's sale of her dead boyfriend's novel manuscript, ends up leading nowhere. There are brilliant, unconventional films where the visual fabric dominates the conventional storylines, and then there are films like this that get by on being so jarring and pretentious that viewers are afraid to say it sucks.
Rating: 
Summary: Reeling
Review: This movie encapsulates everything I admire about PJ Harvey, yet she had nothing to do with it. It's (essentially) the inward/outward journey of a child-woman who awakens to life and self-discovery, and in the process, learns she can survive by her own wits. That's it, there's no more plot. But what a way to tell a story! I saw Morvern a week ago, and she's still flickering on the backs of my eyelids. I can't remember another movie that felt this 'sensory' - it almost invites you to touch the screen at times. So many other superlatives: beautifully composed frames (that staircase!), densely layered sound mixes (those E conversations!), a captivating, unfussy lead actor (that smile!). My favorite moment of many: when the taxi nearly runs over Morvern...and she breaks into spontaneous laughter. If you go see and support this wonderful movie (and I urge all to do so), just remember one thing: metaphorically speaking, you're feasting at a four-star gourmet restaurant - don't expect it to serve you a Big Mac.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible, pretentious mess of a movie
Review: This movie should be avoided at all cost! It starts out with the "heroine", Morvern Callar, waking up next to the corpse of her boyfriend, who had committed suicide, around Christmas time. She is remarkable unperturbed about this, and carries on with her life as normal. In time she retrieves the novel he had written on their computer and replaces his name with hers as author before sending it off to publishers, who accept it for publication. She then goes to Spain with her best friend, and the movie becomes a sort of a fictitious version of "Ibiza Uncovered". At this stage I gave up on the movie and left the cinema in a state of befuddlement.There are so many things wrong with the movie that I barely know where to start. There are far too many blurred camera shots (probably meant to be arty), too many unnecessary scenes (probably meant to be arty), too little (meaningful) dialogue and far too much loud music (probably meant to be arty), a really disgusting scene where Morvern cuts the body of her boyfriend up into bits for disposal (probably meant to be arty) and no explanation of her frankly bizarre reaction to his death (probably meant to make the unfortunate viewer think, as an arty movie is supposed to). I can carry on like this all day, but will stop at this point- I'm sure you get the idea by now. As said, I did not see the last 20 minutes or so of the movie, but I don't think it was redeemable, no matter what happened after I fled. I repeat: avoid at all cost!
Rating: 
Summary: oh my god! what a let down
Review: What was up with the gratuitous nude scenes? I saw that woman's private parts in that film more than I see my own in a week! The editing was terrible and the story does not resolve itself. The concept was great but you must get through a bunch of out of context nudity, drunken lolligagging, etc before the real story starts twenty minutes before the end of the film! A waste!
Rating:
Summary: WHAT A CROCK!!!!
Review: why did you go to spain? what was that? why did you chop up your boyfriend? I went back to blockbuster and hid the three copies of this so nobody else would waste their time and $. the soundtrack wasn't even that good it was tolerable at best. you just like saying your name over and over. why did you leave your friend on the side of the road?! what kind of protagonist are you?! kept watching cuz i thought it might kept better, it just got worse. we demand a letter of apology from the studio for the hour and a half we wasted of our lives watching you trapse around. I recomend "The Rock" instead. It is a good action flick and Nicolas Cage is a class act. I like sublime as well. And skittles. Yeah I like skittles. I think i like pizza rolls...... Yeah i like pizza rolls. And puzzles. And kyle is dreamy.
Rating: 
Summary: "Lost in the middle of nowhere."
Review: Winner of awards for Best Actress (for both Samantha Morton and Kathleen McDermott in different competitions), Best Direction (Lynne Ramsay), and Best Cinematography (Alwin Kuchler) at film festivals from Cannes to Bratislava, Morvern Callar is a strange, haunting picture of alienated youth with few goals and even fewer opportunities. From the outset Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton) is passive and emotionally frozen. Waking up Christmas morning, she discovers her boyfriend dead beside her, a suicide, but she ignores the body, puts on her makeup and goes out to a party, where she drinks, dances, goes to bed with two people, participates in nude snowball-throwing, and tells her friend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott) that her boyfriend has "gone to another country."
He has left behind Christmas presents, recorded music, a message of love, and a just-completed novel, asking her to send it to a publisher. Changing his name to her own on the manuscript, she sends it off. She then disposes of the body, cleans the apartment, and invites her girlfriend Lanna (Kathleen McDermott) over to spend the night. Her boyfriend's "funeral money" buys tickets to Spain for a vacation with Lanna, a fellow employee in the meat room of a local supermarket. The surprising, immediate sale of his manuscript gives her additional money to travel wherever she wants in Spain, seeking action at the beach, parties with other young people, and sensual pleasure.
With some scenes filmed with a handheld camera, the film has the tone of a home movie, giving it remarkable verisimilitude. The action and the characters feel real--human--and the mumbling voices and sometimes incomprehensible accents keep the film low-key and even more realistic. The cinematography (Alwin Kuchler) is brilliant, with dramatic scenes showing stark light and dark contrasts--backlit empty halls, bleak snowfalls, staircases appearing to go nowhere, flashing lights freeze-framing action, and vast, empty expanses contrasting with frantic activity--the cinematography emphasizing the emptiness of the characters' lives and their bleak prospects. The loud, sometimes jazzy score further emphasizes their alienation.
Morton makes a compelling, emotionally dissociated Movern Callar, conveying her reckless search for excitement and her slowly developing need for peace. McDermott as Lanna is even more frenetic and uninhibited, and there is never a sense that either of these actresses is acting. The director's touch is light, giving the actors leeway to explore their roles, which they do boldly but with a touching poignancy. R-rated for good reason, the film succeeds in capturing a seldom-featured segment of youthful society, presenting the constant search for pleasure as a way to escape the pain. Mary Whipple
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