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Movie Overview
Cast
• Halle Berry
• Benicio Del Toro
• David Duchovny
Director
• Susanne Bier
MPAA Rating
R - for drug content and language
Things We Lost in the Fire (2007)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 50% Rotten
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"'Things We Lost in the Fire' deserves praise for its top-notch performances and its humanistic treatment of such serious subject matter as grief and addiction."  ReelTalk Movie Reviews  Betty Jo Tucker

2/5
" As yet another example of a gifted foreign filmmaker...fudging up their reputation by traveling over to Tinsel Town for some Western promise, Things We Lost in the Fire is Lifetime lite cinema masquerading as actual A-list excellence."  PopMatters  Bill Gibron

A
"Haunting cinema...an exquisite film of mammoth dramatic reach and sympathy, and it presents Susanne Bier as one of the most observant, patient filmmakers working today."  eFilmCritic.com  Brian Orndorf

C-
"Del Toro pulls off a tight-wire dramatic performance that keeps the film afloat, but can't obscure the constant hiss of pop psychology that pierces nearly every scene."  ColeSmithey.com  Cole Smithey

"Jerry and Audrey are locked into reductive storylines, so their shadowed eyes and perspiring brows are only telling you what you already know."  PopMatters  Cynthia Fuchs

2.5/4
"...never entirely comes off as the searing, hard-to-watch drama it's presumably supposed to be."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

2/4
"Light on plot, which wouldn't be a problem if the mildly rote characters held more depth than they do."  TheMovieBoy.com  Dustin Putman

B
"Finds its substance in the personalities and relationships of the characters -- so much substance that a conventional 'story' isn't even needed."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

3/4
"Surprisingly, this insightful tearjerker is padded with expressive layers well beyond the average made-for-television sentiments because of the penetrating performances."  World Voice News  Frank Ochieng

C
"Bier's skill in rising above melodramatic convention appears to have abandoned her on the trip to America."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

4/5
"A deeply emotional film that gives us a deeper respect for those trying to recover from the loss of a loved one or enslavement to an addiction."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

3.5/4
"Things We Lost in the Fire deals frankly and openly with the wounds -- some obvious, some not so obvious -- that are left by the tragic, untimely loss of a loved one. At times, the film is unsparing."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

2/4
"Overwrought indies aren't typically my thing and this achingly angsty melodrama does little to alter my thinking."  Palo Alto Weekly  Jeanne Aufmuth

"Things We Lost in the Fire: Any sense of rhythm or pace, and an ending that won't make you groan."  Planet Sick-Boy  Jon Popick

"There are certainly some problems, but there's enough honesty about the cycle of addiction and the struggle of recovery to smooth out the rough edges."  UR Chicago Magazine  Mark Dujsik

C-
"Damaged individuals healing one another is a serviceable idea for a film, but Things We Lost in the Fire is missing an essential component: plausibility."  Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema  Mark Pfeiffer

B
"Often as overwrought as it is heartrending."  Lessons of Darkness  Nick Schager

3/5
"However, there is one element to "Things We Lost In the Fire" that does work spectacularly well and that is the central performance by Benicio Del Toro."  eFilmCritic.com  Peter Sobczynski

3.5/5
"Danish director Bier focuses on themes and relationships in what's otherwise a rather contrived melodrama."  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

A-
"It is refreshing to see an American film that is not steeped in cliché. The twists and turns of this personal drama go in unexpected and satisfying directions."  Reeling Reviews  Robin Clifford

3/5
"Complicated and raw"  Filmcritic.com  Sean O'Connell

B+
"Though not always faithful in small things, Things We Lost is faithful in much. The individual moments are sometimes off, but the large emotional resonances are right."  Christianity Today  Steven D. Greydanus

6/10
"Only the acting is remarkable in this agonizingly morose, tedious melodrama that unfolds at the pace of a death march."  www.susangranger.com  Susan Granger

0/4
"Maudlin, mawkish, unintentionally hilarious, and utterly devoid of human emotion. The word I'm searching for, I guess, is "alien.""  Film Freak Central  Walter Chaw
OFCS Rating: 50% Rotten
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