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88
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The director, Joseph Ruben ("The Stepfather," "Sleeping With the Enemy"), uses a kind of flat, logical storytelling that leads us inexorably toward his conclusions.
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88
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New York Daily News Dave Kehr
Directed with great skill and intelligence by Joseph Ruben, Return to Paradise, is a rare thing among today's movies a drama of conscience. [14 Aug1 998, Pg.51]
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83
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Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Return to Paradise is "Midnight Express" remade from the outside, as existential quandary. It has the moody, disquieting undertow of a true moral thriller.
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75
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San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
A potential problem with the movie is that it can be a challenge watching people hand-wringing over moral decisions. But the acting is so good that it makes it worth sticking with during the slow patches.
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75
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San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
This movie has a first-rate script, and director Joseph Ruben ( "True Believer," "The Stepfather" ) knew exactly what to do with it.
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75
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ReelViews James Berardinelli
The film's ending is a little unanticipated, and, although there are a few too many surprise revelations in the last 20 minutes, they all work reasonably well to enhance, rather than diminish, the central theme.
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60
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The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
The film's cool, sober texture and its clever characters are often more interesting than the larger plot.
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50
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
What if director Joseph Ruben didn't resort to B-movie suspense tricks? What if the fine cast wasn't saddled with a shamelessly contrived script by Wesley Strick and Bruce Robinson? Then Return to Paradise would be a better movie, that's what if.
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30
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Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Though the Strick-Robinson script is solid from line to line, the film's plot is finally too implausible for anyone to rescue.
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10
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Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Unfortunately, the dramatic potential of such a moral quandary is left largely unmined in director Joseph Ruben's monotonous parlor game of will-he-won't-he. [14 Aug 1998, Pg. N.39]
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