Rating: 
Summary: Watch something else...
Review: Good premise, but very long and boring. If you want something really moving, watch 'Requiem For a Dream' instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Totally Awesome Movie
Review: Beautifully directed and well-acted, In the Bedroom really opens the door on domestic violence and the failings of our current criminal justice system, especially as it relates to victims rights. The Director captures the heartbreak, the infuriation, and the complexity of the issues (social class, forgiveness, depression) at hand, and brings them together for a suspenseful and tense conclusion. What parent wouldn't feel helpless and victimized by a system that would appear to allow a known assailant to walk the streets free on bail, enjoying life, displaying no remorse for their crime, and receiving a sentence so light that the death of another person holds no meaning. Such trauma causes grieving parents to do the unthinkable, the unbelievable, and unforgettable. During the white-knuckle ending, I was glued to my seat, stunned and numb. . Boring--no. Slow--no. Captivating and unforgettable--absolutely! And I guarantee the ending will leave you utterly speechless!!
Rating: 
Summary: Tough Love
Review: At its core, In the Bedroom is about the price men are willing to pay to please and be with the women they love. Directed by Todd Field and based on a short story by the late Andre Dubus, the film doesn't address this theme overtly, but rather through the actions and (more importantly) reactions of the characters involved, which bind it to a logical structure that otherwise might have fallen apart given the events that take place during the movie's alarming climax.Set during summertime in the picturesque fishing town of Camden, Maine, In the Bedroom examines the lives of Matt Fowler (brilliantly handled by veteran actor Tom Wilkinson) and his choral director wife, Ruth (a great Sissy Spacek). Both are concerned about the increasingly serious relationship between their college-aged son Frank (Nick Stahl) and Natalie (beautifully handled by Marisa Tomei), a woman ten years his senior. Compounding matters are Natalie's two young boys and the unwanted presence of her estranged husband, Richard (an appropriately menacing William Mapother). When Frank informs his father that, rather than head off to graduate school to become an architect, he might simply take up lobster trawling for a living in order to remain close to Natalie and her boys, the expected family crisis ensues. Ruth can't abide the thought of her only child throwing away his future on a woman who isn't even divorced from her first husband, while Matt remains stubbornly convinced that Frank will eventually do the right thing and head off to school. Sadly, tragedy intervenes in the form of the bitterly jealous Richard, whose fateful confrontation with Frank triggers a devastating string of events that forever changes the lives of all involved. The cracks in Matt and Ruth's marriage takes center stage as the seemingly well-adjusted couple is forced to deal with the grief over what's happened and the lack of communication that has steadily eroded the bedrock of their marriage over the years. The ultimate action the couple takes to, literally, save their marriage, if not their very sanity, proves the film's riskiest move. But it works simply because of the deeper issue of a husband's loyalty to his wife and the strength the two draw from one another to live through a terrible situation. In the Bedroom bravely addresses the impossibility of finding true justice when the hurt is so deep, and the loss so great, that no amount of judicial punishment can fill the void. Antonio Calvache's photography compares to painter Andrew Wyeth's haunting canvas "Christina's World," and the film pays its debt to Wyeth and the idyllic yet strangely tragic images he produced throughout the film. The score is appropriately understated, never getting in the way of the dramatic interplay between the characters. The acting is simply peerless. On the downside, Field allows the film to drag a bit during the middle third, and poker playing scenes that have one of Matt's friends reciting poems by Blake and Frost come across as a little too obviously connected to the plot at hand. In the Bedroom is a tough, honest movie, one that might have shined even brighter had it not relied on shocking surprises, instead simply laying its cards on the table from the outset and working backwards to show how its characters reached their current situation. As it is, the film is still head and shoulders above the average fare, revealing an undeniably potent intensity that lingers long after the lights have gone up in the theater.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype; This movie is sloooow & content-free
Review: This movie is worse than just bad -- a small band of people seem to have hyped it up to the point that your average Joe thinks "it can't be all that bad, it got nominated for awards" and picks it up at the video store. Instead he gets an evening of waiting for plot to start, while fighting off sleep. Nothing much happens in this movie. The characters are shallow, the storyline is so poor that it's easy to tell what will happen next, the dialogue is bad. Maybe the acting is good, but who cares about that when you are fighting off sleep? This is the slowest paced movie I have ever watched. I suffered through it, saw through the stupid "suprise ending" long before it happend, and I feel ripped off by those charlatans who somehow arranged for the thing to be nominated for awards.
Rating:
Summary: Call me crazy but 1 star isn't low enough...
Review: I guess I missed something in this movie because it think it was the most boring, slow moving story I have ever seen! There were literally minutes of no words spoken all throughout the movie. I constantly battled whether I should just give up and quit watching it, or skipping several scenes just to get to the end. I'm sure I'm not the average movie critic, but I would say, Don't Waste Your Money!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Surprise, surprise. This wasn't what I expected at all.....
Review: Wow! This film is so REAL that you can taste its authenticity. Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson are superb. I don't remember seeing Wilkinson until this film but believe me, he will never leave my mind after viewing this dark film. Gosh! I didn't expect this storyline at all. I thought I was in for a romance but soon saw that I was witnessing a thriller. A college boy and an older single mother are dating and the boy's parents(Spacek and Wilkinson) are a bit worried about it all. Then something unbelievable happens and the boy's parents are forced into a land of reality as they must deal with the horrible tragedy that's occured, a tragedy that was spawned through his relationship with the older woman. From that point on, you will not unglue your eyes from the television - not even once. The course of actions that take place from there on are astonishing but, realistically, they are actions that even you and me could see ourselves involved in if bad things happened to our family. Believe the hype, rent or buy it today!
Rating:
Summary: Shattering and Memorable
Review: This was the best film of 2001, regardless of the Academy's choice of the sappy and predictable "Beautiful Mind". If there's one thing "In the Bedroom" is not, it's predictable. This is a devastating portrait of what one unexpected tragedy does to an affluent but somewhat dysfunctional family. And the lengths to which they go to address it lead to unexpected devastation for everyone involved. This modern Greek tragedy, the likes of which are rarely seen in American film, was clearly made outside of the current Hollywood "studio" system that peddles the pap we've come to expect. I've seen the film several times and it gets better with each viewing. While I will admit to finding it a bit cold upon first viewing, I've since changed my opinion due to the richness of characters and subtext. This is not a film that spells out its intentions in neon. The viewer is required to think and come to his own conclusions rather than sit back and be bombarded with the obvious. What a relief! And the performances are richly textured masterpieces all. Marisa Tomei has never been better as the soon-to-be-divorced girlfriend, and she is the film's primary source of heart and soul. Sissy Spacek, in a justifiably acclaimed performance (Halle Berry? Come on!), etches a stark portrayal of a woman so disconnected from her feelings and family that she is utterly at a loss to deal with the oncoming tragedy. Her limitations are ultimately her undoing, and her downfall breaks the heart. Tom Wilkinson is the revelation here, a truthful, subtle and textured performance of a decent man thrust into a devestating dilemma. His character really is the core of the story, and one wonders how this performance didn't receive acclaim equal to Spacek's because he matches her every step of the way. His final transformation brings the shocking story to it's logical conclusion. "In the Bedroom" is adult, literary entertainment, and director Todd Field shows an adeptness with both actors and theme. This ultimately moving film will have you returning again and again, aching for this shattered family and wanting to wrap your arms around them. A very human film.
Rating:
Summary: Poetic Justice
Review: This is a quiet, sort of artsy film which miraculously makes you forget you are watching a movie. I think one of the most effective elements of this film is making the lives of the people you are watching seem completely honest and genuine. You beleive everything in this film, I never doubted a single word or action by any of the characters. One major thing I started to notice was the built up anger of most of the characters in this film. I was waiting for each of them to expolde into hysterics, and well......they pretty much did, according to my expectations. The main thing I was most pleased with was the ending of the film. I so wanted the father to do what he did to you know who (the jerk). I even caught myself saying "good" out loud when he pulled the trigger. What a relief and what a great ending to a sad story.
Rating:
Summary: Tom Wilkinson Shines
Review: All of the critics have been raving about Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei for this movie, but, in my opinion, the true "best actor" here is Tom Wilkinson, who is certainly the carrier of this film, as it is he who shields his emotions from even his wife, he who comes forward to her to rationalize their emotions, and he who brings closure to the painful situation he and his wife have endured. Todd Field's direction is also excellent, as it actually makes the movie comedic in many scenes. This is only Field's first directorial effort; I can't wait to see his next!
Rating:
Summary: Exquisite movie!
Review: Set in a beautiful little coastal town in Maine, this movie is a real jewel. Exquisitely drawn characters are wonderfully portrayed by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, as two parents of a much-loved only son. When tragedy strikes, the couple withdraw from one another and from the world, an all-too-real reaction to such a situation. Scene after wordless scene, we see these two parents go through the grieving process in two different and unhealthy ways. Less is definitely more here, as the tensions build between the two. These taut and quiet scenes are a contrast and a preview to the climactic and stormy scene which follows, when the couple open up and tell each other the deep feelings which they have tried so hard to hide. This film is a classic and it portrays emotions in a wonderfully understated and realistic fashion. This is the best movie I have seen in a very long time.
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