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Laurel Canyon

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Laurel Canyon (2003)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:20

Rotten:10

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Though the movie itself is flawed, McDormand is fantastic as Jane.

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $3,596,939

Synopsis: Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The... Laurel Canyon is a street that runs through the heart of the Hollywood Hills, joining the middle-class, stolid environs of the San Fernando Valley to the heart of the city of Los Angeles. The canyon is notable for its varied residents through the years and has served, and continues to, as the home to many rock stars, musicians, performers, producers, and the like. Among its current residents are Jane (Frances McDormand), a legendary record producer, currently producing an album for a British band whose lead singer Ian (Allesandro Nivola) is her much younger lover. Jane and the band are creating the album in her Laurel Canyon house where she has a recording studio. Jane’s son Sam (Christian Bale) and his fiancée Alex (Kate Beckinsale) are both recent graduates of Harvard medical school. Conservative, solid and serious, the couple find it necessary to move to Los Angeles to complete their studies: Sam is completing his Residency at the renowned Hausman Neuropsychiatric Institute, while Alex is intent on completing her dissertation on Drosophilia Genomics. Jane has offered her Laurel Canyon home for them to stay in, promising that it will be vacant. But when Sam and Alex arrive Jane and the Band are still working in Jane’s home recording studio to complete the album. Sam and Alex begrudgingly stay at Jane’s house until they can find an alternative place to live. Once in the house, however, things begin to slowly unravel. Alex’s attraction to Jane’s and Ian’s freewheeling lifestyle and Sam’s hesitancy about renewing a relationship with his wayward mother as well as his growing attraction to fellow medical resident Sara (Natascha McElhone) slowly fill the house with tension and doubt... -- © 2002 Sony Pictures Classics [More]

Starring: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone

Starring: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone, Alessandro Nivola, Melissa De Sousa

Director: Lisa Cholodenko

Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko
Producer: Susan A. Stover, Jeff Levy-Hinte
Composer: Craig Wedren
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Reviews for Laurel Canyon

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1 - 9 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
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Urban Cinefile
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/15/04
Guardian [UK]
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Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | comment Comment
10/27/03
Sunday Times (Australia)
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If there is one reason to see Laurel Canyon, it's to witness McDormand in the kind of role she's long deserved.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/11/03
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
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Thanks to the performances and the general looseness of the script, the movie is more appealing than it has any business being.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/11/03
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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Too stilted and pre-programmed to come alive.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
03/28/03
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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All the performances are strong, but McDormand, Bale and Nivola's are most powerful.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
03/07/03
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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It reconfirms the filmmaker's talent as an acutely observant chronicler of upscale bohemian subcultures.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/06/03
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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There wasn't a moment in the film that I didn't enjoy, but neither was there anything that got my mind or heart racing.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
03/06/03
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Los Angeles Times
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Frances McDormand isn't just good, she's fantastic in this movie.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
03/04/03
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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1 - 9 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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