As a glossy romance in dangerous times, this has all the classic elements and does a reasonably good job of marshalling people and events to its heart-wrenching finale.
Comment
08/24/01
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
29
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:114
Fresh:33
Rotten:81
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: The cinematography is gorgeous, but the movie plays it fast and loose with history and the novel it was adapted from. Mostly, the movie fails because the romance between the leads strains credulity and the story is largely uninvolving.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $25,261,240
Synopsis: Academy Award (R) winner Nicolas Cage (City of Angels) and Penelope Cruz (All About My Mother) star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, an epic tale about the enduring hope of love and the devastating... [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Christian Bale, John Hurt
Director: John Madden
Reviews for Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Top CriticClick to read the article
10/18/08
Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz are ill-matched, and the range of heavy accents is distracting.
09/19/08
Top CriticStrikes too many false notes on the dramatic side to add up to a satisfying emotional experience.
08/07/08
Top CriticThe film's perfectly watchable, but it's never more than that.
02/09/06
One of the year's most embarrassing big-budget miscalculations.
12/06/05
Click to read the article
02/25/04
A romance as spectacular as this novel is, it still has a difficult job making the leap to the screen.
05/20/03
...Touching and at the same time brutal, brimming with the emotional conflict that surges within its characters.
02/08/03
Gorgeous to look at and well-played, it's definitely watchable, yet strangely uninvolving.
10/30/02
A lot of talent was squandered on this incoherent grab bag of war-movie moments.
10/15/02
A historical drama that simply fails to make convincing human connections.
10/10/02
Here's a film with all the right ingredients which somehow manages to taste bland as a hell.
09/10/02
The stunning look of this film took my breath away and overcame its shortcomings for me.
08/02/02
Yet another WWII love triangle that suffers from bad acting, but looks great!
07/09/02
...feels as if it has been manufactured in a chop shop of former Oscar winners and nauseating Miramax 'prestige' puff pieces.
06/21/02
The Greek tourism board couldn't have turned out a more persuasive commercial. Buying the various twists and turns of Shawn Slovo's screenplay, however, is more difficult.
06/09/02
La novela, disponible en cualquier librería, es una gran realización; desgraciadamente al llevarla a los 24 cuadros por segundo, perdió mucha de su fuerza.
06/08/02
If there is one word to describe this movie, it would be 'safe.'
02/26/02
The movie duplicates exactly my experience with the book, although I must say I was thankful to be spared serial outbreaks of hearty Greek dancing.
01/22/02
Latest News for Captain Corelli's Mandolin
September 15, 2005:
Critical Consensus: Critics Thank "Heaven," But Don't Praise The "Lord"
This week at the movies brings us a supernatural romance ("Just Like Heaven"), a jaded arms dealer ("Lord of War") and two experiments in terror... More...
April 19, 2005:
Get Ready for Another Dose of "Basic Instinct"
You've heard it mentioned for years, but production is (finally) about to get underway on "Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction." A follow-up to Paul Verhoeven's sexual... More...
June 05, 2001:
Initial test screenings failed to induce awe. Universal, hoping for an Oscar contender, bumped the film from its spring release so that Madden could recut it. 
More...
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