Angels Crest (2011)

23% of critics liked it
(22 reviews)
37% of users liked it
(552 ratings)

In the working-class Rocky Mountain town of Angels Crest, young father Ethan (Thomas Dekker) is doing his best to raise his three-year-old son Nate. He has no choice-Nate's mother (Lynn Collins) is an alcoholic. But one snowy day Ethan's momentary lapse in judgment results in tragedy, catapulting… More In the working-class Rocky Mountain town of Angels Crest, young father Ethan (Thomas Dekker) is doing his best to raise his three-year-old son Nate. He has no choice-Nate's mother (Lynn Collins) is an alcoholic. But one snowy day Ethan's momentary lapse in judgment results in tragedy, catapulting the town's tight-knit community into strange new directions as they try to decide where the blame lies. -- (C) Magnolia

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Gaby Dellal
Written By: Catherine Trieschmann
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Dec 30, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Apr 3, 2012
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
A garbled melodrama striving to be tragic drama.
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
Catherine Trieschmann's script, based on the novel by Leslie Schwartz, barely scratches the potentially loaded surfaces it serves up.
Ronnie Scheib, Variety
While there is a great deal of weeping and wailing going on in the town of Angels Crest, little of it is connected to a comprehensible or cohesive plot.
Sara Stewart, New York Post
Dellal gets respectable performances all around ... but they can't elevate "Angels Crest" ... beyond its one obvious and depressing note ...
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Despite several solid performances, the characters are too hazily sketched and too loosely linked to form a meaningful chain.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
There's actually less here than meets the eye.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
This tragic story about the accidental death of a child raises a lot of issues about parenting, responsibility, guilt, blame and remorse. These issues have broader implications for society as a whole, far beyond this specific example.
Brent Simon, Shockya.com
A not very subtle and generally unpersuasive stab at tapestral grief-as-elegy.
Richard Knight, Knight at the Movies
Nothing sticks for long in this strangely muted, depressing drama that blows from one scene to the next without any particular rhythm like one of the pretty snow drifts in the film.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
Hopelessly bleak tragedy, as trumatic guilt gnaws on everyone's sensibilities.
Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
Frosty and oddly cast
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
A high-school production of a second-rate Greek tragedian.
Norm Schrager, Filmcritic.com
a bare-bones affair for the cast and the audience.
Noel Murray, AV Club
It relies too much on two particularly played-out indie clichés: a spare, plunky soundtrack, and a narrative structure that teases out characters' backstory far longer than necessary.
Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine
Angels Crest opens with the laughter of children at play, but that's the only hint of happiness you'll find in this unflinchingly manipulative and pointless morality play.
Nick Schager, Time Out New York
The film can't locate the bone-deep sense of tragedy of Leslie Schwartz's novel -- it just keeps belching out empty, grief-stricken histrionics devoid of insight.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The main story remains intriguing even if it never becomes profound.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Angels Crest has a number of peripheral problems, mostly to do with the sheer number of under-developed characters and subplots.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jeffrey M

At its' heart, Angels Crest is an intriguing and heartfelt drama about dealing with a tragic loss in a small town. The acting is fairly strong, with most of the actors avoiding over-the-top melodrama for something that feels more real. What lets the film down, however, is the… More
At its' heart, Angels Crest is an intriguing and heartfelt drama about dealing with a tragic loss in a small town. The acting is fairly strong, with most of the actors avoiding over-the-top melodrama for something that feels more real. What lets the film down, however, is the script, full of an abundance of underdeveloped characters and ambiguous character arcs. This leads the film dangerously close to "misery porn", as it isn't especially profound or insightful. The premise and execution are good enough to make it watchable, but it never comes to a level of a truly good drama.

Cast

            Jeremy Piven as Jack

            Thomas Dekker as Ethan

            Elizabeth McGovern as Jane

            Mira Sorvino as Angie

            Kate Walsh as Roxanne

            Lynn Collins as Cindy

            Joseph Morgan as Rusty

            Barbara Williams as Cindy's Mother

            Ameko Eks Mass Carroll as Nate

            Marty Antonini as Charlie

            Dave Brown as Frank

            Emma MacGillivary as Rosie

            Colin Campbell as Paul

            Chris Ippolito as Will

            Jonathan Lachlan Stewart as Kyle

            Christianne Hirt as Yvette

            Gillian Carfra as Celina Cervantes

            Greg Lawson as Bill

            Lindsay Burns as Donna

            Aedan Tomney as Travis

            Rachel Clentworth as Melody

            Mathieu Bourassa as Clerk

            Julian Domingues as George

            Mallory Minerson as Saleswoman

            Douglas Hinds as Barber

            Rachael Stewart as Rachel

            Wally Houn as Judge McKay
See full cast