For all of Troche's skill and talent, The Safety of Objects (a splendid title) nevertheless tries to cover too much territory. In movies, as elsewhere, a little less sometimes can add up to a lot more.
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The Safety of Objects doesn't carry the power of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm," a similarly themed work about WASPS in crisis. Objects is too artificial, clunky with too many preposterous situations.
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Not a complete waste of time, but it doesn't make us FEEL the way better dramas do, and, in the end, it lacks the qualities that would make it memorable or powerful.
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The result is not a quilt, just a succession of story snippets that keep interrupting one another.
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Outside of its star power, it reeks of indie film and doesn't hold much mainstream steam.
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Troche's tone is so relentlessly, depressingly monotonous that the characters seem trapped in a narrow emotional range. They live out their miserable lives in one lachrymose sequence after another, and for us there is no relief.
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Although it has moments of charm and poignancy -- this is one of Glenn Close's best hours -- the scheme and scope of the movie are just too darned obvious.