Rating: 
Summary: Briefly touching serious subjects but pleasure to watch
Review: I believe that the time you spend thinking about a movie is some indication to how good it was; well, I did spend time thinking about this movie and especially about the characters - what's going to happen next...what is the meaning of the ending... Sara's directness and beauty.
There is a lot of beauty in this film, starting from the physical beauty of the characters moving to their inner beauty and to the fact that they are all "whole", complete characters. I agree with other viewers that these characters are somewhat cliched but they seem to develop or unfold as the movie proceeds. Finally there is the beautiful photography of this movie on which the director and screenwriter (Lisa Cholodenko) elaborates in the DVD additions part. An important great asset is "Laurel Canyon" ability to handle difficult issues with just a touch, hinting an array of feelings with body gestures and few words (Sam touching Jane toes as an act of reconciliation, Sara's eyes following Sam in the car scene). In this regard I have to add that the movie is very blunt and direct in one sense and quite subtle on the other hand; or maybe it is always easier to be blunt and direct about sex and subtler about other issues of the heart.
I guess the film belongs to Frances Macdermond who is able to put light to every character she does (and what a variety that is). Here she plays Jane, the bohemian musician type who is a living proof to every stereotype there is about the music industry. Still, Frances McDormand is able to give us a fuller person of Jane with a lot more depth to her character. Another fact that I reminded myself during the viewing was that she indeed is the parent of Sam... this means that in spite of Sam' accusations and negative feelings she seemed to have done at least a few things right. Sam is not only very intellectual (Harvard graduate, cool and calculated) but is also a kind human being who is able to give meaning to his role as a doctor. I also liked Natascha McElhone as Sara and thought she was definitely more "alive" then Alex.
The film includes one of the hottest sex scenes ever, although not including anything physical only a conversation between two people sitting in a car.
Rating: 
Summary: You Have to Be an Adult (clue -- over 50) for this Film
Review: This is a brilliant film (ignore any juvenile reviews to the contrary) if you are over 50 and understand how difficult relationships between parents and adult children might become. There are no cliches, there are only effective portrayals of ordinary people trying to come to grips with their actions
Rating:
Summary: entertaining
Review: Ignore all the melodramatic drivel of so many reviewers here! They seem to have nothing better to do than go into excruciating detail about why they didn't like the film. I found it very entertaining and worth seeing for Frances McDormand's performance, great as always.
Rating: 
Summary: McDormand is on fire in Cholodenko's uneven sophomore film.
Review: Lisa Cholodenko's "Laurel Canyon" is an exploration of several subjects scandalous: sex, drugs, psychiatry, whiny rock music. Aspiring to a lot, accomplishing very little, it nevertheless reaffirms that Frances McDormand is chameleonic, feisty actress. In a year thin of dynamic female roles, she might even earn an Academy Award nomination. McDormand is Jane, a 40ish hippie record producer holed up in of those fabulously overgrown villas tucked into the Los Angeles hills, toking bongs and whiskey sours while putting her latest LP to bed. Somewhere in the myriad of short flings she produced a straight-laced son Sam (Christian Bale), a Harvard Med grad with a perky little genius for a fiancée in Alex (Kate Beckinsdale). Predictably, Sam and Alex's routines get rattled when they move in with Jane and her band, fronted by a cocky punk named Ian (Alessandro Nivola). Writer/director Cholodenko immediately places seductive distractions in front of the newly engaged couple; Alex, the (apparent) reigning super-achiever, drops her dissertation, and everything else, to hang in the recording studio and get stoned, while Sam warms to a sweetly aggressive Israeli colleague (Natascha McElhone). Because "Laurel Canyon" never takes the time to cement Sam and Alex's romance beyond a Scrabble game and some uncomfortable sex, there is surprisingly little at risk; both seem better suited to their new friends and surroundings than a stodgy relationship where they talk past one another. Beckinsdale might be the soup du jour, but she's a blank beauty, and McElhone presents a far more fetching, stimulating catch. As does McDormand, who's got some mileage in those eyes, but a lot more spark, too. Jane is bursting with contradictions, and seems to suffer affairs long past their sell-by date for nuture's sake. When we discover, for example, just why it is she gets up so early every morning, we get a glimpse of how co-opted a supposedly "free and clear" existence can become. Essentially a comic role, McDormand infuses the performance with a startling amount of maternal instinct. It's just not for her son. Bale is McDormand's equal as the sullen prodigy trying hard to deny he has the same roaming tendencies as his mother. Nivola is spot on as the affable creep. The soundtrack is worth owning if you go for British rock pop. Cholodenko, as writer/director, knows her way around a hotel, a car, and a pool. While the scenes themselves never add up to a cohesive film - the movie is simply too didactic and point-driven - several are sharp on their own. And McDormand simply is her character. After water toting performances in "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "City By The Sea," she returns to "Laurel Canyon" brassy and keyed up, and it's like watching a lioness stalk the plains.
Rating:
Summary: beautifully acted drama
Review: ***1/2 "Laurel Canyon" is an intriguing character-driven drama, written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko and featuring first-rate performances by Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Alessandro Nivola and Natascha McElhone. Sam (Bale) and Alex (Beckinsale) are recent Harvard med school grads who move to Southern California to begin a new phase in their lives, he as a resident in a psychiatric ward and she as a genetics researcher working on her PhD. While there, the young couple moves in with Sam's mother, Jane (McDormand), an aging, hard-living but highly successful music producer who owns a gorgeous residence (in Hollywood's posh Laurel Canyon) that also doubles as a recording studio. Sam, an earnest, rigid, almost prudish young man, has long rejected the free-wheeling lifestyle of his mother whom he considers more of an embarrassment than anything else. The brainy Alex, on the other hand, who graduated first in their highly competitive class, has led a more "sheltered" existence and she finds herself strangely drawn to the hedonistic atmosphere she finds here. Another factor pulling the couple apart is the growing relationship between Sam and Sara (McElhone), the beautiful young resident who works with him at the hospital. The fifth element in the mix is Ian (Nivola), a smooth-talking, cocky young singer who, though officially attached to the much-older Jane, plays a primary role in getting Alex to loosen up, shed her inhibitions, and come join their little "party." "Laurel Canyon" plays out like a "civilized" power struggle, with the various characters jockeying for position, staking out their territory, and attempting to pull certain key individuals into their own respective corners. Alex, with her air of naïve innocence, is clearly the main "prize" here, but Sam also feels a noticeable tug from Sara, who senses in her co-worker a kindred spirit she would like to get to know better. These are people playing with fire - Jane and Ian in particular - and one of the messages of "Laurel Canyon" seems to be that a life conducted without a clear moral code will end up in disaster for all concerned. However, Cholodenko does not seem exactly enamored of Sam's provincialism either, seeing it as a wall he has constructed in order to hide from the truth of his own nature. McDormand makes an indelible impression as the intriguing but somewhat pathetic Jane, a woman who's failed as a mother primarily because she's never been able to grow up and accept adult responsibility. The few encounters we are privy to between mother and son are searing in their intensity, but "Laurel Canyon" keeps its confrontation scenes to a minimum, choosing instead to find its meaning in the things that are NOT said rather than in the things that are. That's a risky strategy that generally pays off, though some in the audience may find the subtlety and lack of a clear-cut resolution unsatisfying and even frustrating in the long run. The plotting is sometimes a bit too clear-cut and neat for its own good and the parallelism (i.e. the simultaneous drifting apart of Sam and Alex due to their respective "temptations") sometimes feels forced and obvious. The parallelism is less obtrusive in the case of Sam's patient, a 16-year old boy whose drug addiction is placed in stark opposition to the "casual, recreational" drug use of Jane and her music-making cohorts. Moreover, having Sam and Alex be a married couple rather than just boyfriend and girlfriend might have intensified some of the moral complexities and dilemmas faced by the characters. Still, the caliber of both the acting and the writing keeps us involved for the duration of the film. "Laurel Canyon" spins a unique tale in a relatively unfamiliar setting and provides five fine actors an opportunity to display the perfection of their craft.
Rating: 
Summary: Some hot milk and a comfortable pillow...
Review: At several points during the screening of this film I found myself hoping that a catastrophe might overtake the entire cast(Frances McDormand excepted), however neither flood, nor fire, nor earthquake was forthcoming, and it was left to sleep to quell my misery. For this film is truly miserable; all the more so for having such a promising premiss which, through the neatly produced trailer, had me full, or at least half-full, of expectations.
*
Someone sadly had faith enough to bankroll Lisa Cholodenko, without due supervision of her script, which presents as a rough first draft, that is to say at best a few ideas, a few sketchy scenes, waiting to be developed into a coherent, captivating narrative; the characters are thin to the point of being skeletal, their development 'subtle' bordering on utterly absent, the dialogue stilted and forced, their motivations oscillating between facile cliche and inarticulate opacity. Frances McDormand does her best to fashion a plausible living character from what she has been given, but even she gives up when asked to smooch Kate Beckinsale - you can almost see her turning to face the camera, and in an aside confiding, "Yep, this is ridiculous". Miss Beckinsale herself quite clearly can make neither hide nor hair of her character, and leaves the film looking as lost as the majority of the audience. Christian Bale survived the ordeal of filming by dosing himself up on powerful sedatives, the effects of which are plainly evident on screen.
*
The music, obviously so central to proceedings, needs special condemnation. The idea that the band in question 'lacks inspiration' and 'fails to draw you in', to use Cholodenko's own words, is very dangerous, since this uninsipired music is exactly what the audience is forced to listen to for many a minute. Tedious, hackneyed, middle-of-road pseudo-British Rock and sort-of-roll does not a great sound-track make.
*
Clearly, this film is not trying to be great art, but I fear it is intended to be entertaining, and in that intention it fails, sleepily if not spectacularly.
Rating:
Summary: The worst most debasing film of the year!
Review: This film(should it even be called that) is a total flop, a total piece of wannabee social commentary trash. The characters are sopposed to represent the society we live in. The negative 'boring' son who only wants to work and gee make money, the succesful 'freespirit' morther who cant put down a joint to save her floundering pruduction company, the annoying Foreigner who we just know the girl will fall for no matter how useless he is, and the boring 'republican' girlfriend whose 'square' boyfriend is holding her back from being a stripper and lesbian. Can we say CLICHE'!!!!! This is the worst in debasement. We are sopposed to believe that every conservative looking female is actually just a whore in a long dress? And we are also sopposed to beleive that a yuppie hippie mom would think of sleeping with her own sons girlfriend in a lesbian threesome. Clearly the director wnats us to think 'oh my god, amazing, he's breaking down the walls of oppression, very counterculture ooooooo!'. I think not! This weak portrayel is totally unrealistic and you just cant get by the icy feeling and boredom portrayed in the film. The characters dont work, they are flat and stereotyped. This film, like american beauty, tries to hard to break down contemporary barriers of acceptable behavior(at least in american beauty it was beleivable he had the hots for the young girl). A waste of two hours. A total disaster on screen. The characters are hateful and at the end(once your worst fears have been realized) you end up thinking 'so what, why do I care, I didnt like the characters anyway'. Last point: In the third scene between the 'republican' girlfriend and the band members she is smoking a joint leasurely as if thats what she does usually. Totally unbelievable! Your telling me thse liberals converted her so quickly into drug use? I think not. Oh wait, were sopposed to beleive that she's a 'free spirit' and cant wait to 'experiment'. Totally fake.
Rating:
Summary: Straightlace Son / Freespirit Mother
Review: Laurel Canyon is a bit of fresh air. I suppose it was supposed to be sort of a comedy. If it was, it wasn't particularly funny. What it was, was a fairly entertaining situation where a young, conservative doctor, Sam, moves to LA from Boston, where he has taken an internship as a psychologist, bringing with him his bright and beautiful fiancee, Alex, to temporarily live in his mother, Jane's, second home in Hollywood Hills. However, things do not work out well for Sam. It seems Sam's mother is there, along with an up and coming British band, using the place to try and produce their newest album and especially a radio friendly single. This, because she has given her home in Malibu to her previous husband / lover, it's not clear which. Let's stop here a second and see what we have. Sam, played by Christian Bale, is a rather stodgy individual who has always been perturbed by his mothers lifestyle and behavior. Jane, Sam's Mother, Played by Frances McDormand, a record producer, is a footloose, free talking, free thinking and free loving, pot smoking, product of the seventies. Jane has a tendency treat her clients (band members) like family, by mothering them and occasionally consorting with a band member, which doesn't sit well with Sam. Alex, Played by Kate Beckinsale, is Sam's Fiancee. She is a lovely and exceptionally smart girl, head of her class at Harvard, a product of a rich conservative household, totally sheltered from any form of depravity and fully dedicated to her studies, that is until she gets to LA. Ian, played by Alessandro Nivola, is the bands leader and singer and has recently taken up with Jane. Ian is sixteen years Janes junior but he genuinely seems attached to Jane and out for a good time, wherever that may be. The plot seems to be that an attractive engaged couple, Sam and Alex, move to a new area and their love gets tested by unforseen and compelling circumstances. A subplot is the acrimonious relationship between Sam and Jane, Son and mother, can it, will it be resolved. Things get a little strained for Sam and Alex after they get there. Sam is constantly embarrassed and apologizing for his mother, while Alex is fascinated by such a freewheeling lifestyle. Then things get a more complicated as Sam gets pursued by a very attractive second year intern, Natascha McElhone, at his work and Alex, unable to concentrate on her dissertation to complete her own doctorate, seemingly gets drawn in to this new, strange, seamy atmosphere along with it's attendant, wanton behavior. Starring:
Frances McDormand [Fargo]
Christian Bale [American Psycho]
Kate Beckinsale [Pearl Harbor]
Alessandro Nivola [Jurassic Park III]
Natascha McElhone [Solaris] Credits:
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Producer: Susan A. Stover
Jeff Levy-Hinte
Jeff Levy-Hinty
Susan Strover
Screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko
Additional Music/Songs: Sparklehorse
Cinematographer: Wally Pfister
Composer: Craig Wedren
Executive Producer: Scott Ferguson The acting by Frances McDormand and Christian Bale was excellent as was the direction by Lisa Cholodenko. Kate Beckensale, Alessandr Nivola and Natascha McElhone all gave good performances. Overall rating 4 1/8 stars Conclusion Mother and Son, Jane and Sam, are polar opposites. He rejects everything she is and tries to go in the opposite direction and she is a mother hen to all but her own son, which in turn probably made Sam jealous. This love / hate relationship comes to a boil. In the meantime, Alex is almost Euphoric over her newfound freedom. Freedom to indulge a new lifestyle, to experience new and exciting things. If or How this gets resolved, you will find out when you see the movie
Rating:
Summary: Laurel Canyon will likely bore you to death
Review: I should have known something was wrong. Laurel Canyon was released to the cappuccino crowd theaters. This often indicates that only the so-called intellectual elite might pretend to enjoy the end result. Alas, my initial cynicism was right on target. This movie is only slightly more exciting than watching grass growing. Christian Bale portrays a thirty something psychiatrist who may have some incestuous hang-ups over his mother, Jane (Frances McDormand). Remember Mommy Dearest? Jane is weird to say the least. She is the stereotypical Californian hippie weirdo (If I lived in that particular state---I might be inclined to sue the makers of Laurel Canyon for slander). And why did Kate Beckinsale agree to appear in this film? Is her career in decline? Could she be desperate to find an appropriate role? Beckinsale is wasting her time as a woman who is unsure of her sexual inclinations. She is provided dialogue that is borderline ridiculous. We observe the characters dealing with their inner Freudian demons. They could keep a dozen psychoanalysts employed for many years into the future. Should we care? Nope, these affluent folks are too much into navel gazing. They have far too much time and money on their hands. Regular adults usually have real problems to be concerned about. Can't I say anything positive concerning Laurel Canyon? Oh well, Frances McDormand's performance is riveting and she is the only reason why I can even give this film three stars. This woman is a fantastic actress and should be more careful in the future. She might also wish to fire her agent.
Rating:
Summary: The siren song of the Low Road
Review: LAUREL CANYON, a drama, is more than just a little reminiscent of 1994's SIRENS, a comedy. In the latter, Hugh Grant plays a newly-minted Anglican cleric of the Victorain era posted to Australia, where his bishop assigns him the task of prevailing upon a celebrated local artist (Sam Neill) to elevate his canvasses out of the gutter by leaving out the bare-naked ladies. Arriving at the artist's tropical residence, the minister finds the sultry lushness of the surroundings exceeded only by that of several nude models, one of whom is Elle Macpherson. While the cleric valiantly keeps a stiff upper lip in the face of so much nubile flesh, his sexually repressed wife (Tara Fitzgerald) is soon seduced by the sensual atmosphere that pervades the place and is presided over by the Neill character, a sort of benignly detached Hugh Hefner type. In this film, Dr. Sam, M.D. (Christian Bale) and his fiancee, Dr. Alex, M.D. (Kate Beckinsale), both graduates of Harvard Med, travel to Los Angeles to temporarily take up abode in the vacant residence of the former's mother, Jane (Frances McDormand), while Alex does a First Year Resident gig in the psychiatric unit of a local hospital and Alex finishes up her Ph.D. dissertation on the genomics of fruit flies. However, upon arriving at the home in LAUREL CANYON, the two find the place still occupied. Jane, a record producer and aging Flower Child, is using the location to put together a new disc with a British rock band. Uptight Sam, who describes his Mom as dysfunctional, is not overly surprised to find her presiding over an environment of marijuana, casual sex, and rock 'n' roll - the traditional California dangers (according to traditional mothers everywhere) to virtue and clean living. But there's nothing Sam can do on a daily basis but go off to do his shrink stuff, during which he becomes attracted to Second Year Resident Dr. Sara (Natascha McElhone), while leaving Alex at home to cope with the corrosive hedonism of surroundings so unlike those of her hoity-toity Eastern upbringing. For me, the only reason to see LAUREL CANYON is the talented Frances McDormand, who proves that she, as an older actress, can be awfully sexy. Of the female roles in the film, world weary and wise Jane is the only one who promises a Good Time not subject to guilty post-coital introspection. Since none of the other characters captured my interest or sympathy, the quality of the acting involved in their portrayal is irrelevant. Ian (Alessandro Nivola), the leader of the rock group, is just obnoxious as Jane's 20-year-younger, Bad Boy lover. Sara is vapid as the seductress of the one she should be professionally mentoring, and who should know better. The admittedly lovely Alex is like a deer caught in the headlights of temptation, and Sam is too neurotic to be an appealing persona. And the very last scene of the film left my wife and I saying "Huh?". If you have a choice between LAUREL CANYON and SIRENS, choose the latter. As an adult fairy tale and/or morality play, it's much more fun and entertaining.
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