Review Roundup: Jude Law Brings DOM HEMINGWAY to Theaters

By: Apr. 04, 2014
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Jude Law is back in theaters this weekend with the dark-comedy DOM HEMINGWAY. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, the film, starring Law and Richard E. Grant, was shot on location in the South of France.

In the film, which opens in limited release on Friday, Law plays a notorious safecracker looking for payback from a crime boss portrayed by Demian Bichir. The cast also features Emilia Clarke, Jumyan Hunter and Madalina Ghenea.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Manohla Dargis | New York Times

"Come for the performance; stay for the performance. Because, to answer Peggy Lee's lingering question, that's all there is. Well, almost: There are also bright eye-popping colors, amusing lines and many clever production-design touches." Read the full review here.

Betsy Sharkey | Los Angeles Times

"Law has embraced the lawless Dom so completely, disappeared so deeply, that it can be disconcerting to witness the bruising altercations and poetically perverse soliloquies that dominate this immoral morality play." Read the full review here.

Owen Gleiberman | Entertainment Weekly

"It's a kick to see Law, who normally plays more civilized types, get his underworld thug on by embracing the role of a vicious Cockney criminal with greased-back hair, a double-muttonchop beard, and a glittery-eyed leer of sexual hunger." Read the full review here.

Claudia Puig | USA Today

"Here, both Shepard and Law are trying too hard - and yet it's never enough to create an authentic, full-bodied character. All the effort goes into brash outrageousness. Then, amid all the explosive nastiness, the story blandly shifts gears to a sentimentality that especially doesn't ring true." Read the full review here.

Peter Debruge | Variety

"The pic also defies its own genre in the sense that most audiences would expect Dom either to seek some sort of payback for his prison time (the first half of the film) or to jump right back into ... But all this flashy illicit activity merely serves as a smokescreen for the character's true agenda: patching things up with Evelyn (GAME OF THRONES' Emilia Clarke), the daughter he abandoned when he refused to rat on his employer so many years ago." Read the full review here.

Todd McCarthy | Hollywood Reporter

"Fancying itself a thrillingly profane gangster film along the lines of SEXY BEAST, KING OF NEW YORK or CASINO (at least the Joe Pesci part), DOM HEMINGWAY feels more like a pretender, a self-conscious and strained attempt to create an iconic criminal figure." Read the full review here.

Jessica Herndon | Associated Press

"A temperamental, egotistical, British ex-con with a soft side for the daughter he left behind, Jude Law is magnetic as the title character in DOM HEMINGWAY, an amusing tale of vengeance, debauchery and redemption told stylishly by writer-director Richard Shepard." Read the full review here.

Elizabeth Weitzman | New York Daily News

"Jude Law is excellent in the thankless role of Dom, a petty, obnoxious, self-centered thief, liar and murderer. In fact, there's so little to appreciate in Dom that it's hard to figure out why we're watching a movie about him at all." Read the full review here.

Did you head out to see DOM HEMINGWAY this weekend? Add your review to the roundup in the comments below.


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