The Quiet
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Movie Reviews of The Quiet
Movie Review: Creative and Interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
The Quiet was pretty well written in terms of certain characters, such as Camilla Belle and Elisha Cuthberts role. But I think the middle and ending could of been better in refrence to certain scenes in the movie.Movie Review: Just admire the cover and then put it back on the shelf
Summary: 2 Stars
The Quiet fails on almost all accounts. I think the best part of this DVD is the cover and the title (I mean, that's a pretty catchy, timely title, when we have movies like The Grudge, The Prestige, The Messengers, etc. etc.). Anyway, from the very opening frames The Quiet starts to lose the credibility that a film starring Camilla Belle should have. (I mean, this is the girl that made the remake of When a Stranger Calls into a decent thriller).
The basic plot is that the "perfect" suburban family (Martin Donovan and Edie Falco, and cheerleader daughter played by Elisha Cuthbert) have taken in their goddaughter Dot, a troubled young girl who is deaf and dumb... or IS she? Believe me, I'm not spoiling the plot, she's narrating the very first shot of the film. This is where the plot seems to falter. The characters in the film don't know that Dot can hear and speak, but the audience clearly does. This great divide doesn't provide the kind of voyeuristic knowledge you might think. It just makes it seem obvious and makes the other characters seem duller.
Especially when they start telling Dot their "deepest secrets" thinking that she can't hear them. The worst part about this is that they look right into her eyes while telling her, even though they know that she can read lips... so her being deaf has nothing to do with whether she "hears" their secrets or not.
The problems with this film are multi-faceted, but the main issue really seems to be uninspired directing. Most of the scenes just fall flat. And often there are sets that appear to be filled with smoke, but why? Why? To provide some sort of eerie feeling to the audience that the script isn't driving home?
The story is overtly creepy and melancholy, but not in a way that really connects with the viewers. Mostly audiences will come off feeling dirty for watching and ready for the whole thing to be over. Even the climactic few scenes are severely lacking in emotional connectivity. How can we care about the immense tragedy occuring, when we don't care about any of the characters?
The DVD contains a few extra featurettes, but they're just as uninspired as the film itself. The featurette entitled THE CAST is the best simply because you get to see a very bored looking director (Jamie Babbit) talk about how she didn't get the cast she originally wanted, and then half-heartedly try to cover that up by vaguely touching on the qualities of her actors. (i.e. "Camilla Belle will play a much different Dot than Thora Birch would have.")
Overall, after viewing this film, it's very clear why it took two years to make a theatrical and DVD release. There simply isn't the audience for this film. Hopefully the next releases from Burnt Orange Productions will be more inspired than this one.
Movie Review: 2.5; I can make a joke about the title but nah
Summary: 2 Stars
It would be so easy to suggest a main title for the review in an obvious word play of the film, such as "this film should've stayed quiet" or "film doesn't follow own advice and shut up" but that's too easy. Because basically watching the film you start to notice you almost like it for the wrong reasons. Director Jamie Babbit, previously known for directing lesbian drama But I'm a Cheerleader, shows a family with much sordid details and secrets but just not the right approach.
The Deer family (don't laugh, that's their last name) adopt Dot, a deaf-mute who becomes a quick target for the daughter, Nina. However, Dot's seemingly useful ability to hear but not hear what people say brings about some family secrets and tension and ultimately the bigger question is what secret does Dot have that she's not sharing?
Sometimes there are lines that are obviously meant to bring about a laughter, where because it's ridiculous and toilet humor, scatching and political or just a knowing laugh like a "I know how that is". But it's a bad sign when a line, meant to be serious, brings laughter. There are several lines like this in the film including one involving a guy talking about his "manhood". The story isn't that well-written either. The family secret is pretty rough but there's no emotional connection so the only thing bad about the secret is what it actually is and not how it affects anyone in the film.
How's the actors? Well after awhile you mistake hotness for acting. While Camille Belle was surprising in a film called the Ballad of Jack and Rose, here she's pretty good but there's not a lot of depth to the character whereas Elisha Cuthbert, equally hot, has tons of depth but maybe not acting chops at times. While she is given enough time to develop a character, it's unfortunately not enough time before we're whisked somewhere else. Then there's the whole "Dot's secret" which would've worked if she didn't narrate and there was enough scenes to have you already guessing what it was.
If there's nothing else to rent and can't find anything, give it a shot but perhaps it's best to just admire Belle and Cuthbert with the sound off. Ugh, another "quiet" joke.
Movie Review: Boring
Summary: 2 Stars
There is a family of three - a mother, father and a daughter. They adopt a deaf girl who has just lost her father. The deaf girl is struggling to mix in at the high school and with her new family. The family is dysfunctional and not even one character in this movie was likeable. The mother is an alcoholic, and a pill popper, the father sexually abuses his daughter and the daughter is following in her mother's footsteps and experimenting with drugs. Some issues are covered such as how life would be for a deaf person, and incest. The acting is ok, the storyline is average and the movie goes at a slow pace. Overall it was a pretty boring movie and I didn't walk away with anything. I forgot all of the characters names after the movie was over.Movie Review: A Stinker!
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie was so obviously a stinker. Hey guys, were we watching the same movie?? Between the virtually non-existent plot to the incredibly poor acting this movie just never got off the ground for me. Like some of the other reviewers, I was attracted to the movie because of Elisha Cuthbert who is stunning and can act (I loved her work in the 24 series) However, even her dialogue is purile in this bomb. While these themes could have been the basis for an interesting movie, it fails in almost every respect. I am being generous with the one star.