Rating: 
Summary: Good acting! Not much else.
Review: First of all Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson give marvelous performances. However, great performances do not make great movies. In The Bedroom is like sitting in a funeral parlor for two hours and you didn't even know the dead person. The viewer of this movie gets to witness Spacek's and Wilkinson's grieving after they lose their son. Anyone who has lost someone close to them whether it be a child or a friend or whoever doesn't need to sit through this to appreciate grief. They will know first hand. The third act of this movie is a tacky revenge plot. This movie is pretty much a two hour bore. Even though this movie was nominated for a best picture award most likely it will be forgotten soon.
Rating: 
Summary: great performances, over-familiar story
Review: Subtly nuanced performances couldn't keep me engaged in this tediously familar story. I'm sorry to say I knew exactly what was going to happen after the first 5 minutes of the film, making it hard to develop, much less maintain, any interest in the characters. As the story followed its predictable course, I was occasionally impressed with what a masterful job one or the other of the actors was doing. Even though it is well above most revenge stories in terms of quality, it's still nothing new. A lot of talent spent on something you've seen in one form or another many times before. Disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a film for the shallow mind
Review: When I rented this DVD, the girl behind the counter at the video store said to me, "Um, well this movie really didn't, you know, do it for me. It was like, well some parts I didn't really understand." It was at that moment that I knew I would really enjoy this film. I don't like cookie cutter films, I like to use my head. In The Bedroom faces a families struggle through tragedy. A married couple, Matt and Ruth Fowler (Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek) have one child, a 21 year-old son Frank (Nick Stahl) who is about to leave town at summer's end to go back to college. He has a girlfriend, Natalie (Marissa Tomei) who is older, and his mother does not approve. He assures her that it is only "a summer thing," although love is beginning to develop. Natalie has two children and an ex-husband, and during a scuffle, Frank is murdered by Natalie's ex. There is some tension between Frank's parents following his death, for his mother never supported her son's relationship, yet his father did. They must work through their conflict of emotions regarding the murder, and once they do, a plan on how to deal with the tragedy is formed. A plan, that once executed, will shock you, and leave you wondering if their actions were within reason. This is a film to challenge your intellect, so if you prefer paint-by-number films where everything is laid out for you, then you will not enjoy it. Close attention must be paid to dialogue, and if you read between the lines, there should be no holes left in the plot. In response to "A Viewer," from Katy, TX, who posted a review on this film: There was no need for the camera angle to stay on the scuffle so the viewer could watch the murder happen. You do not need to see the killer's face to understand his motivation. The motivation is givin through Matt Fowler's explanation of lobster traps to Natalie's son. (He picks up the lobster missing a claw and show's it to the boy. He explains that the section of the trap that stores the lobsters is called "The Bedroom." And if you get more than two lobsters in the bedroom, something (like a missing claw) is bound to happen. Any additional questions regarding motivation are cleared up when Matt tells his wife Ruth about the photograph he saw. He speaks of the way Natalie was smiling.) Hope that helped you out. I highly recommend this film to everyone. The acting is superb, and Todd Field did a wonderful job of directing. A great deal of the plot is revealed through conversations involving certain objects, but if you pay attention, and read between the lines, then you will be able to enjoy the film to the fullest. After renting this film, I immediately bought a copy to add to my collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Film, Cut-Rate DVD
Review: The bad news is that the DVD is hard to use and contains almost no extras. It took me 8 minutes to figure out how to get the movie to play. Zero bonus materials. The good news is that this is an extremely interesting film to watch, very theatrical in its use of blackouts which gives the film the slow deliberate pacing and a sense of life-like gravity to the unfolding events. I particularly was impressed with the visuals such as focusing on the curtains blowing in the hallway as you hear sounds of conversation happening off frame. In another shot, you see Matt sitting down on the bed while the camera focuses on the mirror on the wall, almost like you are seeing the reflection of a couple in tragedy. The visual power of the film repeatedly is emphasized over the dialogue. In one scene, after the tragedy, Matt (the father) is working on the boat and the boy of the girlfriend comes to the top of the pier and looks down. Both stare at each other, neither makes a motion of greeting, then the boy bicycles off. It's a powerful scene, showing how the link between them has dissolved. In another scene, Ruth (the mother) gets a posthumous letter from a sweepstakes touting that the Frank (the dead son) could be a winner. We fully understood, in the absence of words. The climax of the film is similarly understated and undercut, making it seem all the more realistic and lifelike. The father tells Richard, "Don't talk." As the film ends and the camera pulls back on the early morning scene of the little Maine town, we know that life will go on; and yet for some it will always be different than before. This is certainly not a film for the action genre set, but it is a thoughtful and powerfully moving portrait of a family beset by the ultimate tragedy.
Rating:
Summary: Good beginning, disappointing movie
Review: "In the Bedroom" starts out as an interesting movie about a touching relationship between a college student and an older single mom. Unfortunately, the movie goes into a weird direction. Instead of being a movie about two very loving parents struggling to accept their son's choice, it becomes a movie about two parents struggling after their son's bizarre death.
Not only is the plot farfetched and at times embarrassingly cheesy but the acting gets worse and worse as the movie progresses.
Marisa Tomei is great as a single mom but Sissy Spasek is horrible as a cold and unforgiving mother and wife. The movie is also extremely misogynistic - it seems that all the negative action is driven by women. The morale of the story seems that mothers especially single mothers are dangerous. There is even a metaphor comparing single mothers to female lobsters.
"In the Bedroom" is clearly intended to be as realistic as possible. However, there are scenes in it so cheesy they make "Forest Gump" look like a documentary.
Despite all of my negative feedback I recommend watching this movie since it's anything but boring. Cinematography is incredibly fresh. Tomei's performance is amazing (although her role is not that big) and Tom Wilkinson's performance is interesting to watch. Nick Stahl is very good as Spasek and Wilkinson's perfect son, although we don't see much of him either.
Rating:
Summary: In the bored-room
Review: This movie wins my personal "Leaving Las Vegas" award of 2001 that goes to the film with the highest critical acclaim that least deserves it. Sitting through this movie I was wondering when the heck would it end, not a good sign. It's not the least bit entertaining or even, in my opinion, particularly insightful. It follows a couple having to deal with the murder of their son and, big surprise, they each deal with it in different ways, neither of which, at least until toward the blessed end of the movie, is in the least bit interesting. There are long stretches where simply nothing of interest happens. Between the murder, the surprising "slap" scene, the inevitable argument between husband and wife trying to place the blame on each other, and the somewhat shocking climax, nothing really happens. Many couples have to deal with the death of a son or daughter, and this movie goes about as you'd expect it to. The one saving grace, to me, is Marisa Tomei, whom I'd watch doing pretty much nothing. And pretty much nothing sums up this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Is one murder more "right" than another?
Review: This movie shows the effect of tragedy on a family and the viewer reels with the pain of the parents of this murdered young man. Their future is gone when their only child dies, and then they must face the fact that his murderer's punishment might be less than they feel he deserves. The raw agony of the parents was perfectly depicted as they tried to just make it through one day at a time. That part of the movie resonated for me, but then it descended into the pathos of two people in a flawed relationship who could not communicate about their pain and decided to take the law into their own hands. Before they reached this point, they never sought any help. No counseling to try to enunciate their feelings and their fears. Nothing. Nor was the justice system given a chance. I have known parents whose children or loved ones have been tragically taken away, but none have resorted to this kind of action. Come on, folks, this is not the wild wild west, this is present-day civilized Maine. This movie asks us to believe that one murder is more morally "correct" than another....that if one murder is committed by a good man for a reasonable reason, it is okay. Matt, the father of the murdered Frank, wants justice and is egged on, in a sly and subconscious way, by his wife. Now Matt will not only have to live with the pain of his son's death, but with the guilt of his own actions. This turned into a movie not of redemption or resolution, but pure revenge. It could have been so much more. If the scriptwriter and director wanted the audience to sympathize with these parents and what they did, they lost this viewer. I think that Matt taking justice into his own hands was a despicable act. I also thought that the entire plot/story was pretty bad. There were so many other directions it could have taken, so much ground it could have covered. The script did not convey how the parents really felt nor the depth of their anguish and despair. I did not dislike this film because it was, as other reviewers have said, dark, slow, lifeless, too long, or predictable. My opinion is based on the message it conveyed and the lack of any attempt to show that the actions of the parents were flawed. Marisa Tomei's wonderful performance was the one shining light in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A sudden act of violence -- and then the real story begins!
Review: This award winning 2001 film is a deep psychological study of a married coupled, played by Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek, and how their relationship is put under a microscope after a sudden act of violence turns their lives upside down. Many of their conversations and deeply moving scenes take place in their bedroom, and that is where the title comes from. I cannot say enough good things about their performances. They actually become their characters. The connections are deep, including love in all its elements and they manage to capture it all. The story takes place in a small town in Maine where Tom Wilkinson is the doctor and Sissy Spacek directs the high school's choral society. Their pride and joy is their son, played by Nick Stahl, a college student who's romancing Marisa Tomei. Problem is that Tomei is slightly older, has two young children, and is not yet divorced from her angry husband, played by William Mapother. There sure are problems. But the problems get worse. After that, the real story unfolds. It's all very sad then, and some of the parts drag, but rightly so - as the unhappiness and frustration of the impact of the incident escalate. The cinematography captures the essence of the fishing town perfectly and we even get a glimpse of what life is like for lobster fishermen. All the actors are excellent and all of the roles demanding. For a while I could even forget it was a movie and just get into the story, which unfolds slowly, and is more intense than merely telling what happens; it also explores in excruciating detail why things happens. The impact of this film is lingering and makes the viewer think. Well done. And very unsettling. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Quiet And Moving
Review: It's very easy to see why IN THE BEDROOM would lack appeal to the average moviegoer. It's equally easy to see why the film recieved such widespread kudos, thanks in large part to the actors involved. The crux of the plot is the involvement of Frank Fowler with a local mother of two, who also happens to have a slightly off-kilter spouse hanging around. You know from the get-go that violence is going to ensue, though none of it transpires on screen. The eventual murder of Fowler drives the remainder of the movie, as his parents examine their life without their son, as well as co-existing in a town where his murderer is roaming free. To say that Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are first-rate would be doing both of them an unjustice--this film is a master class in beautifully understated, unaffected acting(no offense to Halle Berry or Denzel Washington, but these two were equally Oscar-worthy). The supporting cast is seamless, with Marisa Tomei turning in possibly her best work to date and Nick Stahl equally effective as young Frank Fowler. Granted, the movie does meander some here and there, drawing it out beyond an unnecessary two hours, and the movie-of-the-week ending,though understandable, is a little too derivative for a movie that for the most part is anything but. Those minor quibbles aside, this remains a film that deserved every bit of praise it recieved.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't believe people liked this
Review: It was so boring and depressing
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