Critic Reviews

• Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

  In a less competitive year, Jeff Goldblum would have had a shot at an Oscar nod.

• Kyle Smith, New York Post

  A semi-unbearable attempt at profundity set in a mental institution 15 years after WWII.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Savage gallows humor might have substituted for pathos. But Adam Resurrected feels so detached that there is not a laugh, nor even a wicked smirk of nihilistic glee, to be gleaned.

• Mark Holcomb, Time Out New York

  The director's absent conviction fails to make the film's absurdities tragic, and instead comes close to rendering its tragedies absurd.

• Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

  The director, Paul Schrader, tries for cleansing audacity, but ends up too close to farce.

• Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

  I can tentatively recommend it if only because there has never been anything like it in the history of cinema as far as I can remember.

• Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com

  Director Paul Schrader is too removed from the powerful emotions roiling through the film, but it may be the only way to handle the horrors he's forced to confront.

• Marty Mapes, Movie Habit

  The ending throws away the complexity that makes the rest of the movie so interesting

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  A well-acted, sporadically intriguing drama that has a few poignant moments...but its convoluted, unfocused plot fails to pack an emotional wallop as a whole.

• Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope

  Goldblum gives a powerful performance in this film. His is one of the best performances by any actor in any film released in 2008.

• Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate

  Inexplicable, eclectic and esoteric, it's a sardonic turn-off to a mainstream audience.

• Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion

  Grapples with important themes and is expertly made, but is simply too odd and off-putting to be anything more than an almost grotesque curiosity.

• Jordan Hiller, Bangitout.com

  For all the nightmarish scenes conceived as a creepy cross between Burroughs and Weisel, we don't receive the cathartic satisfaction typically related to the dramatization of Jewish tragedy.

• Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat

  It seems to have been written in a tone of magical realism, but the director is Paul Schrader, a filmmaker who has many talents, but no feel for whimsy, let alone magic.

• Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com

  The conclusion of the film conveys a sense of moderate relief over life-altering transformation, shortchanging the miracle Goldblum is working overtime to achieve.

• F.X. Feeney, L.A. Weekly

  One cannot recommend this film strongly enough.

• Alissa Wilkinson, Christianity Today

  Could have been a tour de force for director Paul Schrader and his cast, and the glimpses of greatness make the reality all the more disappointing.

• Mark R. Leeper, rec.arts.movies.reviews

  This is a really off-the-wall nihilistic fantasy that may please a small segment of the audience and perhaps even become a cult film.

• Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics

  A film of insanity, cruelty and living life when the thrill is gone, "Adam Resurrected" tells a powerful story---for viewers tough enough to take it. One of Jeff Goldblum's best performances and stand-up supporting work by Willem Dafoe.

• Nathan Rabin, AV Club

  Even when it flies off the rails deep into its third act, Resurrected remains strangely hypnotic.

Read all 23 critic reviews