A budget of only 35 million and they profited only 11 million. What a shame. This movie in all honesty displayed a great plot along with some great acting by both lead actors. The female interest to me was the most important role. Firs she was beautiful!. A lot of these female love interest I hate to say it do not have any uniqueness about them. Julianne Moore can act. Period and flat out. She looks beautiful. And the part where she throws her eggs out and goes out to confront him. Perfect and priceless. That is reality.Another thing about this movie is it is reality. You don't get this whole scheme that you often see on TV that makes the female look great and the male look like, well a male from a female point of view. Kevin spacey is just so wonderful in this but that is expected.A few things about this movie I took away. 1. I just have to take away for the ending. They could have done better honestly. And I have to take away for better actors. Although 3 or 4 of the actors are good. We are judging this by a 10 scale and if you want a ten all acting has to be on the same wave length. 3rd the plot honestly lost me a few times. Took me a second to figure out what the james bond woman was doing and who she was. And i was watching the whole movie.Still 6.8 on a review is honestly bad for this movie. Should have been a solid 8. Mother and son relationship, Father and daughter relationship. Great plot without even any sex. Hell that sad love seen was all and it still was a better love interest in 99 percent of the movies I've seen. I felt love. Another important thing about this is it involved something and a culture. I'm not talking about black and white. It seemed to have an irish thing. And I'm not irish and this maybe not true. But still they made you feel like "hey I want to fish and have a boat" or hey "where is this down at, now that feels like home". And once again I'm not irish but wherever that town is, I wouldn't feel bad being the only black person in that town.At the end of the day you should have a movie that makes people feel part of your town and understand your people. I didn't feel any hate after this or simply a need to turn it off. My mom was a an editor for a magazine so I can relate to some things. But at the end of the day it had a home feeling to it that you won't see in movies today. Its 2017 and that movie was made in 2001. Its 16 years later that I first saw this movie. And I'm a huge movie buff. We should get back to acting and less about cartoons and actions figures. Sad that many people missed this movie but I know when my girlfriend is like "what movie to watch" i can put this in.

This was a film I hadn't seen before and I hadn't read the book, so I could assess the film on its own merits. I was interested to see Kevin Spacey was starring as I have enjoyed a few of his productions at the Old Vic in London. It was on late and I had been watching a programme on TV abut Judy Dench. I found the film engaged my attention from the start. I had no idea how the story would develop. By the time the bleak landscape of Newfoundland was revealed I was completely engaged in the film. With its undertones of child abuse, incest and neglect, this film was disturbing in some ways, but the portrayal of the village newspaper, the remote community life, the bleak landscape and the stormy coast, gave it a powerful impact, which stayed with me long after it was finished. There were top notch performances by a strong cast, not least, the child who played Bunny. In fact a lot of it deals with how children cope with abuse and neglect and can come to terms with it, even when they are adults. The last words in the film, spoken by Kevin Spacey, "A broken man can heal", perhaps sum up the film's ultimate message of the triumph of the human spirit against all odds.

I had high hopes for a film starring Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchette, Julianne Moore, and Judy Dench. But what I found was just a mess. After Cate Blanchette disappeared in a car wreck near the opening, I figured that Julianne Moore would fill the void. Wrong. Kevin Spacey plays some sort of half wit with zero interest whatsoever. I cannot report on what happened (for once, no spoiler alert needed!!!!!) because I actually was so bored that I had to turn this thing (for lack of a better word) off--and that means a lot coming from someone with severe "completist" issues (aka OCD). What did I miss? Apparently a lot, according to some; nothing whatsoever, according to others. Honestly, I was just relieved to turn it off and win back the rest of my evening. Fortunately, I did not pay to see this random concatenation of nonsense in a cinema.

Based on Annie Proulx's novel, Lasse Hallström's 'The Shipping News' starts off a little slow. At first, I thought it would be one of those Hollywood adaptations loaded with dramatic clichés but as the story moves on and the characters build up, it makes a better turn. The film appears to centre around Quoyle and his struggle to find a new life after the death of his promiscuous vampish wife (whose last act was selling their daughter to a black market adoption agency,unbeknownst to Quoyle). However, the supporting characters (even though they have limited screen time) are equally important because they all have a dark secret and that's what 'The Shipping News' is about, how sharing a secret can set someone free from burden.The film beautifully captures Newfoundland, right from the somewhat barren yet stunning landscape to the local culture. The cinematography, art direction and score contribute well to the atmosphere. Newfoundland itself is presented as a character.Even though I found the pacing to be a little uneven, the refreshing subtle humour balances well with the quiet intense scenes. Spacey's Quoyle appears to be a tad monotonous in the first half. There was something lacking in Spacey's performance during this portion a but the actor does manage to do much more with the role in the second half. Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Pete Postlethwaite and Cate Blanchett are superb. Even though Blanchett's character is poorly developed, the actress rises above it. The rest of the cast especially Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Gordon Pinsent and Jason Behr are just as brilliant.'The Shipping News' may have its flaws but it's visually intriguing, well acted and funny. In the end, it is a worthy film experience.