Featured Audience Ratings

• xGary X

  
  An aspiring, fresh-faced young actress new in Hollywood discovers a woman in her appartment who is suffering from amnesia and they attempt to discover who she is using only a few slender clues. David Lynch once again delights and exasperates with this beautiful and always intriguing… More
  An aspiring, fresh-faced young actress new in Hollywood discovers a woman in her appartment who is suffering from amnesia and they attempt to discover who she is using only a few slender clues. David Lynch once again delights and exasperates with this beautiful and always intriguing modern noir. It does not surprise me to discover that this was originally intended to be a TV show, as it reminded me a lot of Lynch's classic series Twin Peaks. It is not as baffling as much of Lynch's work, and although there are shades of Lost Highway in that suddenly the characters seem to become someone else, it does have a coherent narrative that explains all (if you were paying VERY close attention!) Lynch uses his trademark intensity of imagery and sound to create an otherwordly feeling, but it is not as sinister as some of his other work and so it's rather more accessible. In fact, the first two acts of the film do seem like just another post-Tarantino mystery thriller, but the finale of the film is quite astonishing. Another stylish and seductive headf*** from the master of the macabre.

• Kevin C

  
  While you watch it, the plot is not very difficult to follow, thanks to the surprising clarity in which the narrative is displayed. But hold on.... If you even try to put the pieces together and create an idea of what exactly happened, that's where Lynch's work gains its… More
  While you watch it, the plot is not very difficult to follow, thanks to the surprising clarity in which the narrative is displayed. But hold on.... If you even try to put the pieces together and create an idea of what exactly happened, that's where Lynch's work gains its reputation for being bafflingly confusing, nonsensical, and feverishly brilliant.

• paul o

  
  Naomi Watts was fantastic with David Lynch's abstract screenplay and directing. People may say inception was confusing, well Mulholland Drive will blow their minds!

• Jeremy S

  
  One of the best films of 2001. A chilling dissection of hollywood, reminiscent of Sunset Bolevard and All About Eve.

• Spencer S

  
  Mulholland Drive is only confusing as a film because the plot is sustained in different forms of time. It possesses the genius direction of David Lynch (much debated) who forces the film to stay coherent in some respects, and strange in many others. No one is debating that Lynch has a… More
  Mulholland Drive is only confusing as a film because the plot is sustained in different forms of time. It possesses the genius direction of David Lynch (much debated) who forces the film to stay coherent in some respects, and strange in many others. No one is debating that Lynch has a flair, a contemporary feeling unmatched by others, but everyone is wondering what it all means, what we're supposed to take away from a film with no discernible plot, a strange set of characters who do things and feel things that make very little sense in the grand spectrum of life and reality, yet give this film an eerie dream logic. You can't watch this as a true neo-noir or a thriller in any sense. It's that, but without a denouement, or any true climax. The plot transitions between the story of an amnesiac who was going to be the victim of a homicide before being in a car accident, and stumbles across Betty, an aspiring actress who has just moved to Hollywood and lies around her aunt's apartment with stars in her eyes. At the same time we see a director get pushed around on his casting by some mob ties, and his wife cheat on him with the pool boy, lending to an unexpected cameo from Billy Ray Cyrus. Though these two events are supposedly linked, I see very little in the way of a constructed plot. We never find out why the amnesiac was going to be killed, there isn't much investigation into her actual set of events before the accident, and we're never sure if the last twenty minutes (where the real mindf***kery begins) is a dream sequence, a strange prologue that begins in the end, or the real set of events around the mysterious Diane but with different key players. Beside the way you feel about being made a fool of, it's the odd experience of the film that everyone either loves or hates. The reason Lynch has as many followers in cult film as Kubrick, the Coens, and Wes Anderson is because, like them, he has a form and function within his films while still being quirky, or having appropriate atmosphere. Lynch's films, and his work in television, always has a strange tone, a moody atmosphere that you can't place in real life but works well with these scenes, these anachronisms within time and space. I am not sure if I personally can get past the plot to look within the mood, because it unsettles me, and with not having a plot to cling to it's very difficult to have a certain opinion about a film without that knowledge, that qualification of good or bad. Mulholland Drive is good, but in a way that can't be explained, and in that lies the genius of Lynch. Besides that the cast was brilliant: Watts transformed seamlessly between different personas with ease, proving she truly is one of the best actresses working today. Harring looks confuzzled throughout while still retaining a blank sensuality, and Theroux is aimless and intractable. The best sense of humor in the film is a short scene with Mark Pellegrino as a bumbling convict, which lends to the narrative and the sense of danger, but is also appropriately funny. I found this film delightful in some senses and unsettling in so many others. No matter what, it's a film worth watching.

• Graham J

  
  David Lynch's masterpiece, frightening and funny, it's quite scary to look at Hollywood through the eyes of Lynch.

• Greg S

  
  A naive would-be actress from Ontario meets and falls for a knockout amnesiac; impenetrable dream sequences and reality shifts follow. Beautiful confusion.

• Joseph B

  
  One of my all time favorites. Llorando.

• Chris W

  
  For me, David Lynch is a lot like Stanley Kubrick: both are important, talented directed with high amounts of creativity and strong senses of personal style and vision, why is why descriptive terms such as "Lynchian" or "Kubrickian" exist The greatest strength for… More
  For me, David Lynch is a lot like Stanley Kubrick: both are important, talented directed with high amounts of creativity and strong senses of personal style and vision, why is why descriptive terms such as "Lynchian" or "Kubrickian" exist The greatest strength for each is also their greatest weakness, and this happens to be their Lynchian or Kubrickian-ness. Both do some incredible or fascinating work, and I always have respect for them/their works, even if (mostly/especially) in the case of Lynch, I don't always knwo what the hell to think or if he's truly great or just full of crap or not. In a way, that's kind of the fun of watching his movies...a very maddening, unique kind of fun. I think I will choose Kubrick more for this reason, but no matter how nuts Lynch's films drive me, I'm always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because there's always at least one thing going on inhis films that I like, or because we need someone like him, because we need films like his. I don't think I could truly hate a Lynch movie, which is why if you look and see what ratings I've given to his movies, you'll notice I always give them at least a mild pass. The film can kinda be summed up as a neo-noir mystery thriller, but there's more to it than that. There's some self aware elements and jokes, and I got the idea that this was a satire to an extent of Hollywood and the creative porcess. A main storyline is that of an aspiring axtress helping an amnesiac woman try to find out her identity after a car crash, a crash which it turns out saved her from being murdered. A director character is getting hampered by all sorts of forces, namely shady mob types, and all of this ties into the amnesia story. Truth is, I don't truly know if I know what's going on. All I'm saying is just bits of what I've read others say, as well as some of my own observations. Honestly though, I don't know if I really want to know the truth behind this movie or what the hell really is going on. No one will ever say that Lynch's films don't have a great sense of mood, tone, and atmosphere, one that's almost always unnevering and distressing to boot. That's kinda why this film works. It has a dark, mysterious charm to it, and it seems like it would not be as effective if a definite answer were reached. It's like the old saying about how the journey is more important than the destination. Don't watch this movie for plot so much as for the experience of just siting through what it has to offer. I will say that, especially during the first half, the acting and dialogue bothered me. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it all came off as really bad, stilted, and wooden. It got better, though. Maybe it'll not seem that way on repeated viewings? I do think the performers, especially Watts, had a tough job to do here, and they do pull it off. For me though, the real fun was seeing Billy Ray Cyrus show up briefly as a pool poy and Mark Pellegrino play a wonderfully inept and bungling hit man. There's plenty of subtle humor going on, but these two definitely bring on the more overt (and needed) humor. If you're new to Lynch, I'm not sure if this is a good place to start, but if you want a wild, surreal, and wonderfully artistic head trip to sit through, do give this one a chance.

• Emil K

  
  One of David Lynch's best films in his filmography. It sure is uneven and has too many characters for it's own good, but what started as a pilot-episode for a upcoming TV-series, turned into a fantastic film instead. David Lynch has always been visual genius and undisputed… More
  One of David Lynch's best films in his filmography. It sure is uneven and has too many characters for it's own good, but what started as a pilot-episode for a upcoming TV-series, turned into a fantastic film instead. David Lynch has always been visual genius and undisputed master of dream-logic and here he finds a fantastic way to make sense of it all. Many consider this film too complicated and Lynchian for it's own good, but if you are willing to go into his twisted world, then you are in for a one of a kind ride. This could have been a hell of a TV-series, but it is great as it is now also.

• Fernando Rafael Q

  
  I like to think of myself as an intelligent person, so it was a little embarrassing to admit that I didn't "get" this movie. A few hours of research later, I could understand it, and really comprehend the greatness of this dark thriller. Mulholland Drive feels like a… More
  I like to think of myself as an intelligent person, so it was a little embarrassing to admit that I didn't "get" this movie. A few hours of research later, I could understand it, and really comprehend the greatness of this dark thriller. Mulholland Drive feels like a dream (or nightmare?) and deserves a second viewing on my part. I will get to that when I have the time but, right now, I just want to praise David Lynch for taking risks, and making a weird, but incredibly appealing and memorable movie; Naomi Watts for her perfect portrayal of Betty/Diane, definitely the best performance of her career, and Rebekah del Rio for that amazing, unforgettable, gorgeous, creepy, mind-fuck scene! * Will definitely update after second viewing.

• Anthony L

  
  After waiting to see this for 10 years, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. It felt like a Lynch film but a diluted Lynch. I actually felt at times that it got a little cheap - This should have been a TV series like originally planned. Imagine Twin Peaks condensed into a… More
  After waiting to see this for 10 years, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. It felt like a Lynch film but a diluted Lynch. I actually felt at times that it got a little cheap - This should have been a TV series like originally planned. Imagine Twin Peaks condensed into a film, it wouldn't work and the same could be said here. I read this as being a spoof personally, subtle exaggerations, Hollywood old and new - for me the message was made loud and clear by the empty pay off. 100 times better than most garbage that comes out of Hollywood but far from Lynch's best, I do feel it is a little overrated.

• Conner R

  
  Some of David Lynch's best work, but then again you can say that about pretty much everything he's done. The last thirty minutes or so is just flawless, it makes me wish that the rest of the film would've been able to be shot like that. However, it would ruin the whole… More
  Some of David Lynch's best work, but then again you can say that about pretty much everything he's done. The last thirty minutes or so is just flawless, it makes me wish that the rest of the film would've been able to be shot like that. However, it would ruin the whole development of the characters, plot and message. The majority of the movie's style is a great parody of melodrama and is very dreamlike in nature *hint, hint*. Naomi Watts was great as usual and Justin Theroux gave a truly bizarre yet amazing performance. I don't think a movie has made so many changes and twists. The mystery aspect is one of my favorites since Blue Velvet. There's so many moments that don't fit and make no sense, but then again they do.

• Coxxie M

  
  i still dont know what the hell its about completely, but ill see anything Lynch makes now... Oh one more thing: why the hell is billy ray "mullet" cyrus the 2nd name in the cast?!?!

• Sophie B

  
  First time I saw this I was so confused. I was trying to understand and look at all the various levels and techniques used to put across the story however I did miss a lot. I had to check on imdb what on earth was going on but once I did I mostly understood what was going on.… More
  First time I saw this I was so confused. I was trying to understand and look at all the various levels and techniques used to put across the story however I did miss a lot. I had to check on imdb what on earth was going on but once I did I mostly understood what was going on. It's a very clever film.

• Steven C

  
  I hate David Lynch, but I really like "Mulholland Dr." I think it's a good collaboration between the satire and mystery of "Blue Velvet" and the nonsensical visuals from "Inland Empire". I also like that "Mulholland Dr." isn't as… More
  I hate David Lynch, but I really like "Mulholland Dr." I think it's a good collaboration between the satire and mystery of "Blue Velvet" and the nonsensical visuals from "Inland Empire". I also like that "Mulholland Dr." isn't as straightforward as "Blue Velvet" but no where near incomprehensible as "Inland Empire". "Mulholland Dr." also features some nice visuals (something always present in Lynch's pictures), a story that keeps your attention (something rare for Lynch), and effective performances that are equally wacky and emotional (something Lynch never seems to nail down in one film, which I like here). Overall, it's clearly his best and most interesting work, and that is saying something, coming from me.

• Lewis C

  
  "Silencio". An aspiring actress from out of town (Naomi Watts), a film director suffering from a series of bad luck (Justin Theroux), and a mysterious woman with a purse full of money, amnesia from an accident, and people searching for her (Laura Elena Harring), all… More
  "Silencio". An aspiring actress from out of town (Naomi Watts), a film director suffering from a series of bad luck (Justin Theroux), and a mysterious woman with a purse full of money, amnesia from an accident, and people searching for her (Laura Elena Harring), all intersect in Los Angeles. But something seem odd. Off. Strange. What's going on, and how are these people connected? Naomi Watts is my favorite actress, so there's absolutely no excuse for it to have taken so long for me to see this movie. Especially considering how fantastic Mulholland Drive is, and how great she is in it. From the very beginning, you have no idea what's going on. Strange things occur, and you're left wondering what in the heck is happening and who these people are. But the ambiguity never becomes frustrating. It only serves to make you more and more eager to continue on and see what everything is leading to. I literally said out loud at least three times, "I have no idea what's going on, but this is awesome." It's been a while since a movie has caught my attention so strongly from the very beginning and held it to the very end. Despite my adoration for Mulholland Drive, I'm vaguely aware of the fact that some people might find this movie "too weird". As I mentioned before, you're given a lot of scenes without the initial context to make sense of them, and I know that can annoy some people. The film is also quite surreal, at times, and while I may have found that scenes like those at the corral and Club Silencio (and really the entire last half-hour) to be incredible, I can (sort of) understand that they may be just flat out odd to some folks. So be warned, this movie is DIFFERENT. And yes, the all-caps really is necessary. If you only like your movies literal and straight-forward, do yourself a favor and choose a different movie. I don't hand out ratings this high very often, but Mulholland Drive leaves me no choice. It's was so unexpectedly and unconventionally amazing (especially if it's your first David Lynch film, as it was for me), that I have no doubts that it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's startling, mesmerizing, and it'll bend your mind so far that it may never snap back to its original shape. I've seen nothing else like it. I'll admit that I can't help but wonder what the story would have been like without the hard left turn 2/3's of the way through (otherwise you'd be looking at a perfect rating), but this movie is a gem.

• Thomas B

  
  The question is not, "Is Betty real or is Diane real?" The question is "Why does my mind feel like it's been raped and WHAT THE F**K JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!" Full review when I come of my confusion coma.

• Reid V

  
  What can I say? If you have seen a David Lynch movie you know how I am feeling right now. You sit in awe, and confusion, but you know that you are in the midst of something profound. Naomi Watts gives one of the best performances I have seen in recent memory. Showing the dark side of… More
  What can I say? If you have seen a David Lynch movie you know how I am feeling right now. You sit in awe, and confusion, but you know that you are in the midst of something profound. Naomi Watts gives one of the best performances I have seen in recent memory. Showing the dark side of California's Metropolis, Lynch brilliantly takes you through Watt's hallucinogenic mind-scape. You can write this off as pretentious art, but I feel Lynch pulls off a complex and powerful dream like sequence for the full 2 and 1/2 hours without feeling like it is merely art for arts sake. Watch it, call me, you will need to talk to someone.

• Veronique K

  
  the best fun i could gain from watching any of david lynch's movies is its freudian decoding upon suppressed desires transmuting into the groove of disguising dreams. lynch's movies do offend the viewers in a way because the director seems to be unbashfully flashing off his… More
  the best fun i could gain from watching any of david lynch's movies is its freudian decoding upon suppressed desires transmuting into the groove of disguising dreams. lynch's movies do offend the viewers in a way because the director seems to be unbashfully flashing off his superior brilliance all the time as if it is you whose wits cannot emulate his. unlike alfred hitchcock, who is also a cinematic freudian illustrator, lynch would never condescend himself like hitchock to explain the plots within the movie like hitchock did with "psycho" as the shrink crystallizes exactly how's happened with norman bates in the end of the movie. has it ever occured to you that hitchcock might think the audience is too slow and ignorant (in a word, STUPID) to understand freud so he needs some extra guidance there to keep the audience on the clue? or just prevent them from aggravation??? but with lynch, such consideration is in exclusion. personally i found the shrink episode in psycho was a bit too mouthful but on the other hand, i may not understand psycho if there wasn't a shrink episode since i was only 15 when i watched it for the first time... okay, the reality of mulholland drive would be an oscure starlet hooked with a bisexual mega star in hollywood, and the mega star deserts the starlet for a powerful male director and another new starlet for her wild lesbian redenzvou..so the heartbroken starlet slumbers her way for three weeks picturing some soothing fantasies to ease off harsh truth of her life: in her dreamworld, she's the sunny supernova-to-be called betty, who encounters a mysterious female stranger who names herself rita after the poster of rita hayworth's gilda (who also resembles the mega star). somehow betty's acting career is blossoming and rita's enigmatic helplessness sorta entinces her sense of chivalry..so rita gratefully returns betty's chivalry with a steamy lesbian sex despite rita never responds betty's love when she utters "i fall in love with you" (just like the femme fatale would always neglect the sap's lovemaking meanwhile manipulating the sap)...her rival, the male director, becomes a pathetic wimp who gets beaten up and humiliated by his wife's cuckold. the mega star's new girl flame takes the mega star's identity so she could be left alone with her beloved in a detached dimension for their intimate liaisons. in her illusionary universe, her lover's identity turns into an obliterated re-embodiment of sheer seduction just like rita hayworth in gilda, the goddess of love and nothing more, and later on rita wears the blonde wig just like betty, that is the wishful autoeroticism which constantly appears in homosexuality. (wouldn't it be even more provocative to make love with your semi-colone for some change of sceneries?) within her dreams, rita is at her disposal as she could request her to come toward her bed naked and re-mould her hairstyle, but in the same time she stays under control of everything with rita...but due to the sense of self-loathe, the protagonist's identity is also sealed around some corner where a dead woman named diane rotting in her reclusive bungalow, and she innovates the name "betty" from a waitress' name-tag in some cafeteria. and the senile couple who greets her entrance into hollywood transform into fiendish demons whose malicious laughters drive the protagonist into suicide in the end of the movie. generally, the movie shifts into the sequence of reality after the blonde rita opens the blue box with a hidden key inside her purse. blatant metaphor for the pandera's box, huh? simply put , the real diane is decaying into a stinky walking-dead while diane's dream-self betty is rollercoasting her hollywood dream with the ravishing "rita"...the protagonist wishes to shed off the bitterness and pain within the character diane so she imagines herself as the brightful betty for some escapic fun in the last few hours of her life before she blows off her head in oblivion like kurt cobain. perhaps in a way, "mulholland drive" is lesbianistically masturbatory just like a man who envisions some grand bombshell who's willingly obedient to gratify his pride and libido in life as well as in bed for some rapturuous fun of consolatory ejection. (am i being obscene? haha).. just like lynch's 1997 "lost highway", he tackles into the psyche of the betrayed, the cuckolded, and their compensatory fantasies to redeem the last slice of their remaining self-esteem which has been devastated and smeared off by the contemptuosuly insouciant femme fatale. (ps) the formuli of the labyrinth of lynchian noir would be: 1. the protagonist obliterates his own identify for self-loathe (the man in lost highway gets sentenced into electric chair to be re-born) 2. the vertigo dichotomy: the woman must change her identity for the protagonist to re-liven his obsession again, the chaning of hair color is a frequent case. 3. the woman is benevolent by fancy but malevolent by reality (typical case, the man tragically falls into love with a beautiful woman who doesn't love him) 4. hommage to the 50s symbols like the swinger sequence in the beginning of mulholland drive. 5. the protagonist resorts to self-destruction after awakening from a slumbering dream. basically, the archetype of stories is not hard and actually quite routined. it's the labyrinth of mixed distinction of reality and dream savors up everything and some cinematographic virtuosity dubs the scenes with a highly artistic tasteful look.

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