Rating: 
Summary: Traces of genius marred by overall failure
Review: "Eyes Wide Shut" is a mixed bag. If I could review the film on a scene by scene basis, I would give some of the scenes a five star rating. Certain moments such as Tom Cruise's exposure at the orgy or his confrontation with his host were really well done. Unfortunately scenes like this were like splendid mechanical objects that are part of a poorly assembled machine. They may be great, but the apparatus as a whole is a failure. I'm really not being too harsh here. The first half of many of Kubrik's films generally start out slow. They build extraordinary dramatic tension that explodes in the action packed second half of the film. You know what I'm talking about: "Space 2001", "Full Metal Jacket", and especially "The Shining" to name a few. Unfortunately the dramatic tension in "Eyes Wide Shut" sort of fritters away. It seems to be building but it never launches into anything. The film does raise interesting questions about perception and paranoia, but this is bleak compensation for a master like Kubrik. If Shakespeare wrote a wretched play, would we bother to praise him for his interesting spelling? I'll probably see this movie again at some point, but I'm under no illusions about how it stacks up to the rest of Kubrik's work.
Rating: 
Summary: It felt like a waste of time
Review: I watched this film with a friend and we were both becoming irritated with the slow build up and the initial lack of direction. However, as the intrigue and the atmosphere of the film built up (particularly the music in the "House" scenes), it felt like we were going to be rewarded with a crunching finale with mind-blowing twists. It wasn't to be: the sense of being cheated by the film's abrupt and anticlimatic ending felt like a violent slap to the face. Having said this, I haven't stopped thinking about the film and what it was trying to say (if anything). Perhaps this was Kubricks intention. We will never now. I will certainly watch it again, but I won't hold my breath....
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy VS Reality!
Review: To the people who had negative reviews, you didn't understand the picture. It was kinda like Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Especially the scene when Cruise and Kidman are smoking pot and Kidman says that men just want her just because they want to go to bed with her. The people that gave negative reviews probably just rented or bought it for that reason, and that is why they didn't pay attention to the plot. Then Kidman says that she fantasized about the naval officer. And Cruise's character just hearing that thought drives him crazy. I got a question for people out there...Did you ever fantasize about someone when you were with your spouse or lover? I bet you have and you would be nieve to think that your "other" didn't fantasize about another person as well. So Cruise acts out on what he keeps seeing in his mind and it makes him act out. I thought it was cool how Kubrick had Cruise with a hooker and had the character say no to sex with the hooker. And eventually Cruise goes to that sex cult where he DOESN'T cheat on his wife. Then the ending was kinda weird but I could understand the logic of why it was in there. To the people that have seen this before, do you think that the mask was put on the bed from Kidman's character because she was part of the sex cult? If you answered no, why was the mask missing when he went to take the costume back? Or was it just a constant reminder of what Cruise's character was hiding from his wife? That is why Kubrick was so awesome...He ALWAYS kept you guessing!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: Good movie for people with brains......for those withouth: watch something like Runaway Bride.... the soundtruck is outstanding
Rating:
Summary: Not for the close minded
Review: This movie is intensely psychological, and most would see it as a slow and boring waste of time. But that is the point - it is designed to un-nerve you, to taunt you, and to tease you at the brink of sexual fruition. Eyes Wide Shut explores the inner workings of human sexuality by drawing the viewer into the movie - working the highly controversial sex scenes into the mind and letting them do what they are designed to do - stir up reaction. It explores guilt - internal and external of the film. And it questions the limits of infidelity. See the movie, think open mindedly, and let its subliminal themes wiegh on you. and then decide if you like it or not.
Rating:
Summary: Case 2001: Eyes Wide Shut.
Review: Okay, I see by the reviews here and by the reviews the critics had in the papers that this film is hit or miss depending on your perspective. I see also that some die hard Kubrick fans didn't like this film either. Well, if this film is viewed from an artistic, psychological perspective, it's pretty good. It's confusing enough to keep you coming back to re-watch it. I think all criticism aside, this is a very interesting and engrossing film. Yeah, it's long at 2 hours and 35 minutes approximately. However, the series of events keeps it interesting I think. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman give fine performances given the subject matter of the film and given the fact that they probably had to do so many re-shoots as that is Kubrick's way. Perhaps the film could have been more clear had Kubrick lived to tinker with it some more. It is my fear that the film company may have taken liberties with this movie that we are unaware of. At any rate, I think this is first-rate Kubrick, I appreciate all his work, good or bad, and I don't feel that this is as bad as some people think. I do think that when people are presented with a subject that they can't quite grasp, they get irritated. I, for one, am intrigued instead of irritated or disappointed. I think this is a must have for any Kubrick fan and for any film collector.
Rating:
Summary: Genious!
Review: It is a great mystery to me, as to why many people didn't like this movie. This is probably Kubricks best film. His direction his great, the cinematography is genious, and Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman have never been better. That this movie didn't get a Best Film nom. from the academy just shows how much they know about movies. And even if you don't like this movie, bye it for the extras on the DVD, the interviews with Tom, Nicole and Spielberg, are ALL the money worth. You'll probably never see anything like this again, so enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: In Classic Kubrick Style..A Dream-Like Masterpeice!
Review: As with all of Kubricks great films, he has spared no expense when it comes to detail...Amazing cinematography, beautiful set design, costumes, and camera work. But we all know this alone does not a great film make...remember Dune? What completes this prize is a fascinating and mesmerizing story, richly marinated with complex characters and bizzare situations. This film brings to mind other classics like After Hours, The Wickerman, and Blue Velvet...A noble, abeit, naive man trapped in a fools game. I admit that I feel Cruise has been miscast (not Kidman, however), but he delivers an impressive performance regardless. Yes, it IS slow-moving...it HAS to be. Yes, it IS overkill..It is MEANT to be, much like Tommy or The Wiz. EWS i
Rating:
Summary: A Failure that only Kubrick could make
Review: Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" is a disaster but one that only it's legendary director could have made. I was intrigued when I found out that Kubrick had used Schnitzler's "A Dream Story" for his source material. In this short story, Schnitzler very gracefully orchestrates a journey between the conscious world of a successful doctor (Fridolin) and the dream-like world he moves into during his nighttime odyssey. There his combined feelings of sexual jealousy and sexual terror lead him to imagine (or to overreact to) a menacing masked ball that he's secretly gained entrance to. What's wonderful about the Schnitzler story is that it has the pull and logic of a dream - situations are not resolvable or explicable and yet the action is guided by some unknowable force. It's a delicately etched mystery (what happens to the costumer's daughter? who are the masked ball partipants? who is the dead girl?) that Schnitzler conjures and dispels without tying up loose ends. Much like the "Nighttown" chapter in Ulysses, the characters that Fridolin encounter seem as much as projection of his subconscious fears and desire as they do actual people. Very few directors have ever been able to successfully merge dream worldswith the actual one and, sorry, Kubrick isn't one of them. "Eyes Wide Shut" doesn't have the graceful lyricism of "Beauty and the Beast" nor the haunting starkness of "Persona" nor the surreal comic touches of "Belle de Jour" It is as stitled and unconvincing a film as "The Shining" and for much the same reasons. Since Kubrick keeps us at a clincal distance from his characters - especially the poorly conceived Tom Cruise doctor - the viewer can never really associate the nighttime odyssey with anything that's supposed to be going on inside his head. And consequently, Cruise's nighttime odyssey seems all too arbitrary - even the masked ball doesn't make much sense - and, what is worse, even moralistic (good sex is staying at home, bad sex is Satanic orgies). Worse still, Kubrick corrupts the mystery in Schnitzler's novella - the costumer's mysterious clients in Schnitzer become two Asian buffoons in "Eyes", the fate of the pianist is explained in the movie and Kubrick links the woman in the morgue with the orgy (never done in Schnitzler). For a film that wants to put us in a dream world, Kubrick cancels out all the mystery that might have engaged us (imagine, for instance, in the last scene, when Nicole tells Tom that there's something they must do right away: how much more enticing it would have been if Kubrick cut to the credits before she gave her answer). Far worse than the material's outdatedness is the fact that Kubrick, rather than accepting the challenge that it presented, subjected the story to the Full Kubrick Treatment. The visuals are superb and Kubrick handles the camera like a master but his Olympian approach to filmmaking is wholly inappropriate here. Those who like Kubrick's work (as I generally do) probably see this as a masterpiece because he's given his standard treatment to a wholly new subject matter; I was rather hoping that "Eyes Wide Shut" would mark a departure for Kubrick, a recognition that not everything could be rationalized and explained under his critical gaze. Instead of appreciating Schintzler's nuances and rhythms, he kills them and drains the life out of the story and "Eyes Wide Shut" consequently is like a beautiful corpse lying in the morgue.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe the worst, most boring movie I've ever seen.
Review: I knew I was in trouble when after 2 hours I was still waiting for this movie to become interesting. The only thing worse than the picture itself was the three note "sound track" played by a guy with one finger. If you must see this movie, I'd rent it and only if you can't find ANYTHING else to rent.
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