Up at the Villa: Critic Reviews

Vintage lemon.

For novelty value, you can do worse than seeing Sean Penn in a rare chance to don evening-wear on screen, but this isn't a sight to sustain a two-hour haul.

Got all the style it needs to go with those glorious Tuscan settings.

The actors appear not to have been directed.

The question is, why should audiences care? Apart from some beautiful scenic photography, this film gives them little reason to.

Kristin Scott Thomas is smashing.

Up at the Villa has the flavor of one of those after-dinner yarns.

A beautifully buffed piece.

An intelligent version of Somerset Maugham's 1941 novella.

IF Keenan Ivory Wayans had directed this movie, it would have probably been called Up at the Villa, the English Patient on the Razor's Edge wrote The Letter. It also would have probably been a lot more entertaining than this wan adaptation.

Spends more time talking about trouble than it does pursuing it.

I found myself rooting for these foolish, pampered, naive people, and rooting for the movie as well.

Despite the prestigious talents involved, this is strictly 'Minor Piece Theatre.'

Beauty and bloodlessness battle it out in every frame of Villa, and no one comes out a winner.

Kristin Scott Thomas just makes an already annoying character--Mary is whiny and selfish--even more grating with her broad, overly mannered performance.

Here's a tip for casting directors: If you want your female lead to be sympathetic, do not hire Kristen Scott Thomas.

To inject some comedy into this dull film Derek Jacobi has a small part as a drag queen...

Unveils the different shades of love and the ways we can unsettle our lives through impulsive sex.

A travelogue that would be nice were it not so difficult to stay awake.

If you're determined to see it, show up fifteen minutes late and avoid the slow getting-to-know-the-characters sequence.

One of those movies about the surprise of suppressed passion bursting free that I can never get enough of.

Up at the Villa delivers enough on its platter to satisfy art-house tastes.