The Nines (2006)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Manu G

  
  Y9u never kn9w when y9ur number is up. Good movie. Very different from what I have seen before, this movie really has its own originality though its flaws also. The story was excellent but the acting was just not there, everyone played there roles pretty much mediocre and with a more… More
  Y9u never kn9w when y9ur number is up. Good movie. Very different from what I have seen before, this movie really has its own originality though its flaws also. The story was excellent but the acting was just not there, everyone played there roles pretty much mediocre and with a more talented cast it would have been way better. I still give props to Ryan for doing his best which is always noted, he's tough to be taken seriously since he's usually the funny type in movies. If you wanna watch something different that you probably haven't seen before go see this but see it with no expectation. Gary, an actor who plays a cop on television, uses too much lighter fluid when he burns his ex-girlfriend's things, then he drinks and drives, uses crack, and crashes his car. He sobers up in jail and is placed under house arrest and the watchful eye of a publicist, the cheery and tough-minded Margaret. She moves him into the empty house of a writer who's away in Canada on a shoot. Gary meets Sarah, an attractive and seemingly-willing neighbor. His friendship with Margaret blooms and strange things happen: he finds notes he doesn't remember writing, he hears noises, and he seems to bump into himself in the kitchen. Two remaining chapters reveal what's going on.

• Melvin W

  
  Susan: Do you feel like a man? Because I'll tell you a little secret - you're not.  "Y9u never kn9w when y9ur number is up." The Nines is a very interesting film with a clever concept that seems to get too wrapped up in itself. John August seems to try too hard… More
  Susan: Do you feel like a man? Because I'll tell you a little secret - you're not.  "Y9u never kn9w when y9ur number is up." The Nines is a very interesting film with a clever concept that seems to get too wrapped up in itself. John August seems to try too hard to confuse everyone throughout when just the idea in itself would have been great. He tried to make the movie be all about the payoff at the end, when we find out what is going on. I just think it could have been a lot better had he gone about it another way. I did, however, moderately like the movie despite that. Ryan Reynolds is at his best and like I said before it is at least an interesting movie. I like how the movie used Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy along with Reynolds in three different roles. That's not to say that I was totally sold on how everything in those three stories were brought together and summed up.  This is hard movie to rate because I do really want to like it because of the idea and the three performances from Reynolds, Davis and McCarthy. Then again it's rather disappointing and never becomes as good or even great as it could and should have been.

• Coxxie M

  
  Melissa McCarthy is one of the most adorable fat chicks ive seen in a while. Hope Davis will still be beautiful when the apocalypse comes. Ryan Reynolds finally makes a movie as good as himself.

• Greg S

  
  Three separate plot strands---about a self-destructive actor under house arrest, a writer trying to get his series past the pilot stage while being filmed by a reality TV crew, and a video game designer whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere---intertwine in a mysterious way,… More
  Three separate plot strands---about a self-destructive actor under house arrest, a writer trying to get his series past the pilot stage while being filmed by a reality TV crew, and a video game designer whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere---intertwine in a mysterious way, with the same actors playing different characters in each mini-story. A valiant and ambitious effort with some remarkable acting by Ryan Reynolds in his three roles; as is often the case in these sorts of mindbender/puzzle films, though, the mystery is much more satisfying than its solution.

• Thomas J

  
  I really LOVE the concept of this movie, but everything is clear. I will watch it again to maybe understand better, but from what I do understand, very creative idea but depends too much a confusing wrap up at the end. I want to like this movie more, but I need to understand better… More
  I really LOVE the concept of this movie, but everything is clear. I will watch it again to maybe understand better, but from what I do understand, very creative idea but depends too much a confusing wrap up at the end. I want to like this movie more, but I need to understand better the complete idea!! lol

• familiar s

  
  Cool idea that doesn't get transformed into a cool movie.

• Bruce B

  
  WHAT THE HILL WAS THIS ALL ABOUT. Can someone explain it to me, Did it just pass over my head. A complete waste of my time and the actors time. Oh wait a minute you understood it and enjoyed it, you must be that guy that runs around in them shi**y designer shirts with the little… More
  WHAT THE HILL WAS THIS ALL ABOUT. Can someone explain it to me, Did it just pass over my head. A complete waste of my time and the actors time. Oh wait a minute you understood it and enjoyed it, you must be that guy that runs around in them shi**y designer shirts with the little emblem on the pocket that no matter how hard you try to keep it from shrinking up and ruining the pocket you just can't do it. Get out of here 1 freaking star.

• Leigh R

  
  Middle of the road on this one. I liked it, but it was very confusing and hard to follow until the end when it started to piece together. I liked all the various roles done by each of the four main characters. Interesting!

• Jani H

  
  "Um, I'm kind of having a medical situation. I don't have a belly button." The director, John August, has worked together with one of my ultimate favourite directors, Tim Burton, so I thought that this could actually be interesting. Well, prepare yourself for a… More
  "Um, I'm kind of having a medical situation. I don't have a belly button." The director, John August, has worked together with one of my ultimate favourite directors, Tim Burton, so I thought that this could actually be interesting. Well, prepare yourself for a huge disappointment. "The Nines" has basically an interesting idea with deep themes, but it just gets weirder and weirder. It's too surrealistic and fails in every imagined ways. In the end, it's just another preposterous movie that had potential but bombed. Big.

• Dean M

  
  An intriguing post-modern take on TV, film and gaming culture, with a revelatory performance from Ryan Reynold. With Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy in the three short films that fit together in different which is clever, but a bit strange and mind-bending thrill-ride.

• Arash X

  
  The directorial debut of the writer of Big Fish & Corpse Bride, I usually like this kind of movies and I was really enjoying this until the last part & its ridiculous ending, That's when the message becomes clear I mean the whole "The best of all possible… More
  The directorial debut of the writer of Big Fish & Corpse Bride, I usually like this kind of movies and I was really enjoying this until the last part & its ridiculous ending, That's when the message becomes clear I mean the whole "The best of all possible worlds" thing almost ruined the whole movie for me

• A.D. V

  
  Odd but entertaining with Ryan Reynolds doing an excellent job of playing three roles that may or not may not be connected to each other. It's a rather convoluted plot that has a rather underwhelming resolution yet somehow it seems to work. At least it did for me.

• Lorenzo v

  
  I always knew Ryan Reynolds was a God. But in this one, he plays God (like a literal, actual God) into three parts. There's Gary, a TV star who is under house arrest after he accidentally sets his house on fire. And then there's Gavin, a TV writer struggling to keep his… More
  I always knew Ryan Reynolds was a God. But in this one, he plays God (like a literal, actual God) into three parts. There's Gary, a TV star who is under house arrest after he accidentally sets his house on fire. And then there's Gavin, a TV writer struggling to keep his show "Knowing" on the air. Finally, we have Gabriel. A character in Gavin's TV show trying to get a signal from his phone after his car broke down. Trust me, all is not it seems with this film. Its all so complicated it even challenges the complicated-ness and intricacy of the hit TV show "Lost". But from what I understand, Ryan Reynolds is a multi-dimensional being literally playing a God who can create worlds and play different characters. Despite the fact that the plot gives "Lost" a run for his money, it actually kinda clicked with me. Maybe it was Ryan Reynolds' acting or maybe the flow of the story. I liked it a lot. John August, who is best known as a screenwriter, weaves these three tales in a harrowing epic in galactic proportions. 4/5

• Gordon A

  
  Original and clever story which doesn't deliver quite the emotional punch you expect in the big reveal.

• Jason S

  
  Excellent movie. This one will have you thinking and second guessing the whole time. Ryan Reynolds was great in it as were the female leads. The way the movie was shot was great and the different parts were very well done.

• Curtis L

  
  Cheers for being fun and new. Great Ideas, reminds me of something I'd hear in a science fiction short story class in school.

• Nani V

  
  This movie was crazy wasnt' it? Did anyone get it? I was pretty lost, but, it was still interesting.

• William D

  
  [size=3]"The Nines" really surprised me. I didn't expect much from it, and it turns out to be one of the best, most challenging films of the year. About two-thirds of the way through it, I even sensed that I was watching a masterpiece. Unfortunately the pay-off at the… More
  [size=3]"The Nines" really surprised me. I didn't expect much from it, and it turns out to be one of the best, most challenging films of the year. About two-thirds of the way through it, I even sensed that I was watching a masterpiece. Unfortunately the pay-off at the end doesn't quite live up to the brilliant set-up.[/size] [img]http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/theninesbig1.jpg[/img] [size=3]When the scintillating loose threads (and there are many) begin to get pulled together like the strands on the lead character's bracelet, I felt the explanations got hokey and too much like a comic book. But a film that has masterpiece moments is still cause for celebration. [/size] [size=3]Also cause for jubilation is the arrival of writer/director [b]John August[/b], who is here making his directorial debut after penning several screenplays, including the two "Charlie's Angels" movies and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." What an astonishing new talent.[/size] [size=3][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/10007829/photo_04.jpg[/img][/size] [size=3]I would say the same for lead actor [b]Ryan Reynolds[/b], who, while seen before, has never been seen like this. This film will surely transform his career. Reynolds plays several different characters, and he shows a jaw-dropping ability to shed one character's skin and don another's. [/size] [size=3]The first transition is the most dramatic, when he goes from studly heterosexual actor to gay television director. It's not just the mannerisms that Reynolds masters with uncanny skill. He also brings to life the characters' inner lives in a way that impressed me tremendously. It reminded me of the startling shift that Naomi Watts underwent halfway through "Mulholland Drive." [/size][size=3]I wouldn't say Ryan Reynolds is quite at the level of the greats, but he is one of our major actors. I hope he continues to stretch himself by taking on challenging films like this.[/size] [size=3][/size] [img]http://media.komotv.com/images/070830_The_Nines.jpg[/img] [size=3][b]Hope Davis[/b], one of our best female actors who sadly has still not gotten the meaty lead role she deserves, provides great support as the mysteriously powerful woman who keeps showing up in different guises to shake things up for the characters that Reynolds plays.[/size] [size=3]And finally there's newcomer [b]Melissa McCarthy[/b], who is solid but not transcendent. I don't expect we're going to be hearing too much more from her. Her turn as a publicist to Reynolds' superstar actor was very funny. But even there I felt she wasn't inhabiting an inner space that was much beyond that of a television actress. On television I think she'd be superb. On the big screen she doesn't transmit enough.[/size] [size=3]But to be fair to August, I think he was trying to bring a television aesthetic to the film. I suspect that he's a sophisticated post-modernist, who wants to subvert the paradigm that puts high culture over here and low culture over there. This film on many levels blurs the line between those two. Not only in the casting choices, but also in the content of the film. The second of the film's three segments, for example, is called "Reality Television" and is an almost spooky exploration of the reality-TV phenomenon that has become such a cardinal aspect of postmodern civilization (and which was first imagined in the frighteningly prescient 1976 film "Network," it should be remembered).[/size] [size=3]At the start of the film, we are introduced to a famous television actor (played by Reynolds) who is experiencing some kind of breakdown. He gets arrested while high on crack and gets put under house arrest, under the care of his publicist (played with robust humor by McCarthy). He is staying in a palatial house in Los Angeles that is owned by another of the publicist's clients. Next door is an attractive woman who just had a baby (Davis).[/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]Everything seems normal for a while, until Reynolds starts hearing strange noises in the house, indicating that there's someone upstairs. When he goes up, no one is there. He also finds a mysterious note that says "Look for the Nines." The audience is further clued into the fact that something very strange is going on, when McCarthy and Davis seem to know each other and seem to know something about Reynolds that he doesn't realize.[/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]Reynolds eventually confronts McCarthy forcefully and demands to know what's going on. "You aren't who you think you are," she eventually responds. She goes on, but I won't give away the bizarre things she says. Not too long after her explanation, there's a burst of white light and when it goes down, we see Reynolds and McCarthy as different people. In their new guises, some threads from the previous storyline return, such as the note "Look for the Nines."[/size] [img]http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0831/csmimg/LNINES_P1.jpg[/img] [size=3]Things take yet another spooky turn, when McCarthy and Reynolds change characters again and seem to be living inside the TV show that their previous characters were producing.[/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]At the end all these loose threads are pulled together. As I said, I felt somewhat disappointed by the explanations, but the journey of going through this film was spine-tingling. The plot's mysteries were themselves fascinating, but also satisfying were the subtexts about television's increasingly penetrating power in contemporary life and the increasingly blurry line between art and "reality." [/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]I also loved the quiet spookiness that August captured (reminiscent of David Lynch) and how he developed a film technique that borrowed some styles from television. The trippiness in the plot, with characters not having stable identities, already causes confusion in the viewer. The semi-TV quality of the film distances the viewer even further, being put off guard because he's not quite sure what he is watching.[/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]Even when "Mulholland Drive" got supremely murky, we always knew we were watching a film. With "The Nines," it's not clear. Are we watching a film? A TV show? A reality TV show? I found this genre dysphoria to be thrillingly inventive and to be densely packed with interesting ideas about our times and about the future of both film and life.[/size]

• Walter M

  
  "The Nines" consists of three interlocking stories: The first starts with Gary(Ryan Reynolds), a television star, who in trying to destroy his ex-girlfriend's belongings, instead burns down his house. That's not all. He also goes on a crack binge with a… More
  "The Nines" consists of three interlocking stories: The first starts with Gary(Ryan Reynolds), a television star, who in trying to destroy his ex-girlfriend's belongings, instead burns down his house. That's not all. He also goes on a crack binge with a prostitute(Octavia Spencer) before being arrested. His publicist Margaret(Melissa McCarthy) arranges for him to be placed under house arrest but temptation peers from the other side of the wall in the person of Sarah(Hope Davis), a new mother. The second story answers some of the questions posed by the first story by approaching it from a completely different direction. This time, Melissa McCarthy(who I remember fondly from when she was on "Gilmore Girls") plays herself(and she's not the only one) when she gets the lead in a promising television pilot, written by Gavin(Ryan Reynolds.) All of which is captured for posterity for a reality television show. The third story brings events full circle with a satisfying conclusion. "The Nines" is a decent philosophical mindbender that uses the fractured prism of television to reflect on how getting distracted by small details can stop us from reaching our full potential. Thankfully, it backs away from the numerology mentioned in the first story. And while it might be hard to contemplate Ryan Reynolds in connection with any kind of profound thought, the movie confirms what I always suspected about koala bears.

• Stephen E

  
  The Nines is a weird movie. I guess you could classify it as surrealist, but not really. It's more of a drama, if even that. And also, it doesn't really look like a movie, but more like made-for-TV. Yes, the first channel that comes to mind is Syfy. Usually, I never… More
  The Nines is a weird movie. I guess you could classify it as surrealist, but not really. It's more of a drama, if even that. And also, it doesn't really look like a movie, but more like made-for-TV. Yes, the first channel that comes to mind is Syfy. Usually, I never really like Ryan Reynolds, but here, in The Nines, he gives a strong central performance, a performance that makes the movie more watchable. Part Two, in my opinion, was the best part. It was greatly acted and really intense. Part One was slow and I hated (I mean HATED) the Margaret character, and Part Three was good but the payoff wasn't quite enough. It's another one of those movies that you can watch to pass the time. Nothing special. I've been coming across a lot of those lately.

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