Savage Grace (2008)

A grotesque waste of time about terrible people I'd rather not have known.

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07/31/08

The performance is so oversized that, just as Barbara cowed her husband and son into submission, the other actors seem to tiptoe around Moore.

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07/28/08

...more savagery than grace...

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07/25/08

Savage Grace is a movie that badly wants to shock you. The only thing that might raise an eyebrow here, however, is the shocking rate at which everyone lights up a cigarette every five minutes.

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07/18/08

Ultimately, I felt more sorry for Moore - giving her all to a skeezy, tabloid psychodrama - than for her self-absorbed character.

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07/18/08

An appallingly handsome and creepy film entirely suiting the subject matter and repellent and alluring in equal measure. If you relish dishy tales of the depraved rich, it's like Thanksgiving in a movie.

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07/11/08

Director Tom Kalin, who's making his second feature after 1992's Swoon, tells the real-life story of the Baekeland family in a subdued whisper, like a servant muttering backstairs about a rich master's failings.

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07/11/08

The film boasts another sensational performance by Moore and a welcome return to feature directing by Kalin.

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07/08/08

Kalin and Moore have done such a fine job creating this monster, you'll be inclined to forgive them for never quite figuring out what to do with her.

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07/06/08

Though the characters may be repellent, the film permits you to feel sympathy.

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07/04/08

[Savage Grace] is like a Vanity Fair article; it's eye candy, with ... a creepy dysfunctional family drama thrown in to give it added value.

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07/03/08

The decor and costumes are authentic, but there's barely a moment in the picture that feels genuine in human terms.

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06/30/08

Kalin makes some smart choices -- knowing the material is perverse enough, he doesn't amp things up with flashy editing or crazy camerawork -- but he doesn't care about these people.

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06/27/08

It's a horror story, all right, but the reason for telling it remains unclear, and it seems like a waste of Kalin's evident talent.

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06/27/08

Kalin fails to sustain a single tone with his direction or make his vision of the high life as revelatory as it is luxurious. As a director, he's just a tony interior decorator - the swell settings are more seductive than the characters.

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06/27/08

Disturbing in the extreme, Savage Grace gives a guided history tour of a family as dysfunctional as they come.

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06/27/08