The Cider House Rules: Critic Reviews

The only way this House could rule would be in a much less competitive season.

As paternalistic, puffed-up, and dull as a congressional debate about abortion rights.

A bit too still, and so predictable that some part of me kept saying I had read the book when memory told me I hadn't.

Mr. Irving remains a disturbingly facile spinner of yarns in which the most sordid facts of life are glossed over into comfortably didactic homilies about the innate goodness of people. Yet, I was somehow moved...

Hallstrom's film could have used more dramatic muscle but is nonetheless a touching, old-fashioned charmer that ultimately satisfies.

Perceived as too soft by some and too weird and kinky by even more.

Misses Irving's main gifts, despite his own best scriptwriting intentions.

Thought-provoking movie for teens and up.

Irving's clean, economical dialogue and Hallstrom's beautifully morose direction cut the fat off of the cliches.

A bouillabaisse of all the best soap opera elements - orphans, abortion, debilitating injuries and, of course, death.

A softer, kinder version of John Irving's book, which was edgier and more critical, though you can't blame the filmmakers since Irving himself adapted his novel.

Hallstrom's humanism is possibly a little low key and romantic given such tough themes as abortion and incest.

There's quality here and that's a real good thing.

Not since The World According to Garp has a movie based on a John Irving novel captured the wry realism of the author's work.

Just as tepid and surface-level as Simon Birch was.

It blends romance with the love of children, the warmth of family with the darker side of human nature, and the all-encompassing belief that everything has a purpose.

What the film is really about are CHOICES: the need to make them, how they affect others, and actively dealing with the repercussions of your actions.

What's bizarre about the movie is how it grafts greeting-card schmaltz on to a muckraking liberal agenda.

It is worth mentioning that this movie looks like a million bucks; cinematographer Oliver Stapleton drenches the scenery in rich, antique tones that add luster to the story's poignant emotion.

It doesn't break anything, but it doesn't have to. I smiled a lot, sometimes had misty eyes and never lost interest.

Presents a fresh and forceful salute to the spiritual practice of self-esteem.

an extremely pretty movie to look at and listen to, but although Irving's basic plot remains, the richness of his prose hasn't truly transferred to the screen.

[It] is a fable that turns into a 1940s New England variation on Charles Dickens. It is also one dickens of an American movie.

A performance de Michael Caine representa, por si so, motivo suficiente para qualquer um assistir a este filme.

When Larch says, "Good night, you kings of Maine, you princes of New England," the lump raised in the throat is not resented.