Minnie Driver, Jeremy Renner, Bobby Coleman

A tale that takes place over two days, one day in the present, and the other one in the past. The film tells the story of two strangers--a struggling mother and a gambling addict--whose lives converge...( read more  read more... ) in unspeakable tragedy. In the present, Ana drives through the desert to witness the execution of Saul, the stranger who destroyed her life so many years ago. In the past, Saul is out of a job, out of money, and out of time to pay his debts while Ana, with her son, faces an uncertain future. As Saul now waits out the final hours of his life, both he and Ana are caught in the memory of the day when their lives collided and became permanently intertwined.

Flixster Users

44% liked it

14,057 ratings

Critics

44% liked it

27 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: Charles Oliver

Release Date: July 25, 2008

Invite friends to see

Stats: 99 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (99)


  • September 23, 2009
    Charles Oliver's film is a slow-burning thriller, a gutwrenching drama with a fractured narrative, and a long anticipation in search of catharsis. When it finally does come, the results are somehow profoundly underwhelming. Minnie Driver is Ana, a maid, who is struggling to raise...( read more) her ADHD-afflicted, behaviorally challenged son Jesse (Bobby Coleman). Ana is married to Marty Nichols (David Denman of TV's "The Office"), a school teacher who is too preoccupied with work to notice his own family and their issues. As the film opens, Ana is being informed that she must put her son in a special-education class because he is proving too difficult to teach for the class he's currently in. This is intercut with her long drive through the desert - toward what? Meanwhile, we meet Saul (Jeremy Renner), a troubled gambling addict who works for a storage company and auctions off the contents of lockers to customers to support his habit, which his boss discovers and subsequently fires him for. He is an astonishing loser in just about every sense, and owes $2,000 to a low-life criminal, hence the side-business. Then his car breaks down, gets assigned to steal a Range Rover, is beaten up, finds a gun and decides to rob a convenience store. We also see him awaiting execution in a big white room, having conversations with a prison chaplain, and anticipating - what? All these strands are intercut, and gradually it's revealed that Ana (sans husband) is traveling to have a conversation with the man before he dies. Eventually, we see how Ana's path was crossed with Saul's, and the tragedy that ensued. By that point, we find it increasingly hard to care. The film, written and directed by Charles Oliver, is a directorial debut and as such it shows promise, if not exactly tremendous skill. The events are put together out of chronological order, almost like an Inarritu or Tarantino film, so that we might piece together what happened when by the end of it; it might actually be simpler and easier to follow in the end than it actually appears throughout. What pulls us through are the performances by Driver and Renner, who create two convincing and heartwrenching characters brought together by unforeseen and unplanned circumstances with a tragic twist. Also, the cinematography by Tristan Whitman is quite gritty and beautiful at times, dark and stylish. The film reminded me a bit of Marc Forster's "Stay" (2005) without the trick ending; everything here appears more or less straight-forward despite the narrative somersaults. As a film, this is first-rate for its budgetary constraints. As a screenplay, there are bigger issues at work.
  • September 11, 2009
    choosing what life has to offer you and knowing when to let go.i loved this one.
  • July 5, 2009
    Perfect cast, perfect cinematography, perfect editing, perfect sound design, perfect score, perfect story, perfect atmosphere, perfect ending (except the take action title)... Perfect movie.
  • June 30, 2009
    Too bad their lives had to meet in the store. I just had a bad feeling with the kid sitting in the car and the little on taking off his red boots. The ending was not a surprise but he should of opened the truck. Hard to forgive but he was as lost as any child from what his father...( read more) did not do.
  • April 3, 2009
    Jeremy Renner is so good. Great actor
  • March 11, 2009
    it took me a while but eventually i thought this was a pretty good movie
  • February 26, 2009
    So so sort of film, nought special
  • February 10, 2009
    Ugh, not another movie with a temporal gimmick that attempts unsuccessfully to make a dull story more interesting. Maybe in another hundred years Hollywood will catch up with Resnais.
  • December 15, 2008
    no thanks not my thing
  • October 22, 2008
    minnie driver travels to see the guy who killed her son whos on death row, a flashback sees story of how we get there, a ok story, but good to see jeremy renner, in more, hes up and coming for me

Critic Reviews


August 1, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A monotonous slog through dirgeland, telling a story that seems strung out beyond all reason, with flashbacks upon flashbacks delaying interminably the underwhelming climax. full review

July 18, 2008
Kyle Smith, New York Post

A woefully earnest indie about a crime and its aftermath. full review

July 14, 2008
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Oliver's climactic twist merely nullifies any engagement with the characters' prior plights. full review

View more Take reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Take" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Take : Watch Free on TV


Take Trivia


  • What town does Back to the Future take place in?  Answer »
  • Where does the movie 50 First Dates take place?  Answer »
  • What song does Heath Ledger sing to Julia Stiles on the football field in 10 Things I hate About You?  Answer »
  • What don't Gary and Wyatt do when they take a shower with Lisa in "Weird Science?"   Answer »

Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Take. Want to create one?

Video Clips


No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Recent News


No recent headlines. Got one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?