Diane Ladd, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeremy Irons, Julia Ormond, Justin Theroux ...( see more  see more... ) , Laura Dern

A blonde actress is preparing for her biggest role yet, but when she finds herself falling for her co-star, she realizes that her life is beginning to mimic the fictional film that they're shooting. A...( read more  read more... )dding to her confusion is the revelation that the film is a remake of a doomed Polish production, "47," which was never finished due to an unspeakable tragedy.

Flixster Users

76% liked it

39,055 ratings

Critics

71% liked it

98 critics

R, 2 hr. 48 min.

Directed by: David Lynch

Release Date: September 6, 2006

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DVD Release Date: August 14, 2007

Stats: 4,487 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,487)


  • September 9, 2009
    I have to be honest and stay true to myself this time: I didn't like it.

    I don't think it is any good and I just didn't enjoy it at all. I love Eraserhead and, obviously, The Elephant Man (Lynch's most mainstream film) but I don't get Lynch's ...( read more)vision.

    And, yes: it is just me.

    And, you know what? For once, I don't care about liking something everybody else does just because it's "the right thing to like" and I'll say it out loud: I really don't like David Lynch.
  • July 26, 2009
    OK, first things first this movie is literally like seeing your worst, darkest most pessimistic nightmare on screen. The story is as macabre as it is extremely confusing. If you thought the likes of Mulholland Drive and Sunset Boulevard exploited the true cruelty of Hollywood, yo...( read more)u have not seen anything yet. Laura Dern's performance in this is incredible, her role becomes her life and she is as frightened as the audience are. This is David Lynch's creepiest movie by a long shot, far beyond the mutated terror of Eraserhead and the psychopathic mind of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet, this movie twists and turns at every chance possible leaving a lot of questions unanswered, some might say that this is the movies downfall but if you choose to just take this film as it comes then you are guaranteed an enjoyable watch as I did.
  • April 22, 2009
    OK, so two days ago a lady comes to my door explaining that she's my new neighbor, having just moved in down the way. I invite her in and over a cup of coffee she tells me that she heard I was going to write a review for Inland Empire. "Oh no, you're mistaken" I said, "I...( read more) haven't even seen the film yet. Apparently it's pretty popular and Netflix says that there is a 'long wait' just to get it." She shook her head and said that she had it on good authority that I would be writing the review soon. She even said that "if today were tomorrow I'd be sitting right there" (she pointed straight at my sofa). I don't have to tell you that I wasted no time in ushering her out the door.

    So that's not even the strange part, yesterday I was sitting on the couch watching my favorite sitcom (you know, the one about the family of giant rabbits who live in a human house and wear human clothes) when I hear the postman on the porch. I get up and meet him at the door and guess what he hands me? Yes, my Netflix copy of Inland Empire! The mailman noticed my excitement and asked me what was up. When I showed him which film it was he got a worried look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked. He proceeded to tell me that he'd heard that Inland Empire was cursed. "What?" I exclaimed, "What do you mean by cursed?" He said that it was actually a remake of a film made a long time ago in Germany. He knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who was there when it happened. It seems that this other film was being reviewed by a gentleman in Germany when, suddenly, the guy writing the review was brutally murdered.

    Can you imagine the stress that put on me? Just thinking about such odd occurrences made me spill ketchup all over my brand new t-shirt. Well sir, you'll never guess what I found when I came upstairs to change. In my room there were SIX prostitutes! Confirmed, I counted them twice, six prostitutes in my house, every single one pantomiming Little Eva tunes and doing Busby Berkeley dance routines. I was fit to be tied. I said, "Ladies, I have here in my hand a DVD of David Lynch's Inland Empire which is pretty darn near three hours long. I have neither the time nor the inclination to affiliate with all of you at present so four of you are going to have to leave."

    That's when the phone rang. It was that rabbit in the business suit. He told me that there were some men on the way to take me to a place where I could get better. He said that my insurance wouldn't cover private amenities so I would likely have to share a room with someone. He said not to worry though because he was pretty sure that the bed next to Mr. Lynch was empty and the two of us could share a Dell laptop. That way David could get started on his next screenplay and I could post my review of Inland Empire.

    To be continued...
  • April 18, 2009
    Inland Empire is about a woman in trouble. That's how David Lynch described it at first and that's how I will describe it, because... really... is there another way to do it? Is it worth it to try and recount the argument?! Nooo

    Because if you're going to watch Inland Empire y...( read more)ou're not going to do it because you thought the story was real interesting. You're going to watch it because you love/ are quite curious/ are somewhat curious about David Lynch's most "ambitious" project. If you didn't like any of his previous films this is a waste of time.

    Universally, Inland Empire is a walk through David Lynch's personal Southern mythologies, Eastern European mob nightmares, feminine ideals, demons, gods, fears, archtypes. Self-indulgent and grandieuse. Product, it seems, of a desire exorcize his perceptions about filmmaking and how it connects, reflects, or involves suffering and love and lust and fear.

    Lynch relies on his performers producing empathy and on creating horror, erotic, or dreamlike moods. And he knows how to do that.

    In the midst of this wonderful chaos are Justin Theroux, Laura Dern, and Jeremy Irons. The "rational" part of the film, or so we are led to think. Their efforts to stay visible between the mirrors and smoke of Inland Empire are admirable. Dern and Theroux repeat and distort their character(s) and it's fascinating to watch them.

    Sorry if I'm not being very illuminating. I have to acknowledge my shortcomings. I have no fucking idea of what happens here. Perhaps it's a woman's schyzophrenia. I didn't mind, I just lost myself in the images and the atmospheres. Lynchian at that. Which is why it's important that a) this isn't the first of his films you'll watch because you may hate him b) you like and appreciate Lynch and will gladly put up with him at his most capricious.

    What can I say? Divine uncertainty.
  • March 19, 2009
    Expect one weird movie. Think Mulholland Drive on drugs.
  • January 15, 2010
    Too long, tedious, and strange for even me to finish...
  • January 5, 2010
    This experimental film is very hard to watch--it's too self-indulgent for my satisfactory taste. Sure, it's a depiction of some perturbing nightmare...but is that all there to it? David Lynch seems to have fallen off the cliff from his days of the past when his movies actually me...( read more)ant something to the audience.
  • December 30, 2009
    what a nightmare.well,at least better than Mulholland drive,in my opinion
  • December 29, 2009
    Super tedious. A fucking brutal drag as far as I'm concerned. I really hated the cinematography. I almost feel guilty for saying this because I enjoy so much of David Lynch's work. But this just made me want to go to sleep.
  • December 11, 2009
    Rather like Jonathan Ross, I can see that this is a work of genius, but I am not at all sure why. Lynch's usual surreal and disturbing environments are addictive and compelling, although the downside is that this is a very long film.

Critic Reviews


May 4, 2007
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

A bucket of Lynchian leftovers, stirred slightly and left to ferment in the dark. full review

February 15, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Lynch's brilliant and bizarre films have often come to us as a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, but his latest is enshrouded with two layers of 'who cares?' full review

January 19, 2007
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Inland Empire is essentially a journey inside David Lynch's mind, sometimes burrowing very deep indeed. Nobody else could have made this film; nobody else should try. full review

December 8, 2006
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The way to watch it is to skip uneasily along its surface and steel yourself for those moments when Lynch pulls you into the vortex. More than any working filmmaker, he knows the dreamlike power of un... full review

December 4, 2006
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Lynch serves up enough irrationally disturbing images for 100 classic Asian horror films, and the bedraggled Dern is so overflowingly open that you can't dismiss the movie as an arty exercise. full review

November 23, 2006
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

My advice, in the face of such hallucinatory brilliance, is that you hang on. full review

October 19, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Lynch's epic about the movie biz and identity seems less a depiction of the dark recesses of the human mind than an actual product of it. full review

View more Inland Empire reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Criswell
    July 28, 2008
    "Released: December 31, 1997
    DVD Released: July 13, 2004 "

    O_o
  • middleeasternfilms
    July 25, 2008
    If this is the worst movie you've ever seen in your life, then you haven't seen too many movies, have you?
  • jaredleazer
    September 2, 2007
    Worst movie I have ever seen in my life.
  • bandg0325
    July 28, 2007
    I am in Australia and can't find the release date for Inland Empire. Can anyone help me? I am so keen to see this film, big fan of Lynch.
    Cheers
    Bec
  • gmagini
    March 20, 2007
    Does anybody know a good analysis/explanation of INLAND EMPIRE?

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Inland Empire Trivia


  • David Lynch's latest movie, Inland Empire, was shot on tape or film?  Answer »
  • What actress links the following films: "Tess", "Cat People" (1982), "Paris, Texas", "Terminal Velocity", "One Night Stand" (1997), and "Inland Empire"?  Answer »
  • Which actor/actress links the movies "Eddie and the Cruisers", "The Philadelphia Experiment", "Streets of Fire", "The Virgin Suicides" and "Inland Empire"?  Answer »
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