Some marvelous individual scenes overcome Sayles occasional overplayed hand. Casa proves to be a sad and delicately wrought gem.
Comment
10/03/03
Casa de los Babys (2003)
59
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:103
Fresh:61
Rotten:42
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Well-acted and thought provoking, if not completely satisfying.
Synopsis: A group of six women from the United States, each of whom wants to adopt a baby, are checked into a hotel in South America waiting for the paperwork to go through. As their wait stretches on for... [More]
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marcia Gay Harden, Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor
Director: John Sayles
Reviews for Casa de los Babys
For all his patient, accumulative storytelling, Sayles yields little that doesn't feel trite or overly schematic.
10/03/03
Top CriticSayles sees like a documentarian, showing us the women, listening to their stories, inviting us to share their hopes and fears and speculate about their motives.
10/03/03
Top CriticIndie icon John Sayles gives us yet another minor masterpiece that looks at love and want among the haves and have-nots.
10/03/03
A powerfully written, well-acted movie that tackles an unusual and compelling subject.
10/02/03
Top CriticIt's a huge ensemble and a vast sociopolitical canvas with which Sayles is playing here, and, like all his movies, it's quite absorbing as it's happening.
10/02/03
[Sayles] concentrates on the six tiresome Americans ... at the expense of their Latin hosts who, to a one, are much much more interesting and worthy of our time.
10/02/03
A stirring exploration of the overwhelming desire for motherhood, the whims of fate, clashing cultures and what happens when exporting children becomes part of a country's economy.
10/02/03
Sayles does what he does best, opening a window onto a slice of life so believable, you'd swear the movie was a documentary if you didn't know better.
10/02/03
A tender, moderately satisfying essay on fate, the haves and have-nots of the world, parental responsibility, opportunism, and modern family dismemberment and values.
10/02/03
[Casa de los Babys] wanders and stumbles in search of a center, but it finds plenty of goods along the way.
10/02/03
It is a movie of remarkable performances.
10/02/03
Eschewing all sentiment, avoiding all pathos, keeping his film and most of the women hard as nails, [Sayles] manages to tell a compelling story.
10/02/03
Sayles's latest clash between over- and underprivileged cultures focuses solely on the issue of motherhood, but within this one issue he explores the widest range of emotions.
10/01/03
Compelling, if not entirely satisfying
09/29/03
John Sayles might be examining quirks in legal and political systems, but he's still capable of making seemingly arcane subject matter engrossing and occasionally moving.
09/28/03
Alternately frustrating and disappointing, Casa de los Babys is truly one of Sayles' lesser efforts.
09/27/03
In this single film, [Sayles] includes more vividly drawn female characters than I've seen in a year's worth of major releases.
09/26/03
I spent most of the 95-minute running time of Casa trying to distinguish between some of the actresses from my previous image of them.
09/26/03
It won't win [Sayles] many converts, but even the least of his efforts is worth a look.
09/26/03
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