... hilariously wrongheaded.

| Feb 1, 2018

Oldman scores a few points as Dimmsdale, but he's ultimately undone by the muttonheaded script. It doesn't help that his character's been turned into a kind of angsty hippie-dippie dude.

| Jan 5, 2018

Hawthorne's moral seriousness gets lost in a sea of slush.

| Dec 12, 2017

| Original Score: C | Sep 7, 2011

Slaughter, sin, and sex in classic-turned-movie misfire.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 16, 2010

"Freely adapted from the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne," the credits say cautiously. I'll say.

| Aug 4, 2009

For all the talent on display, this is a waste of movie.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 4, 2009

Rage, love, defiance, confusion, fear -- Moore just sticks out her chin and makes her eyes brim with tears. She's the stolidly immovable object at the film's center, and there's no getting around her.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 4, 2009

Despite the cast taking themselves very seriously indeed, The Scarlet Letter is a great comic turn, complete with cod-accents and other period jiggery-pokery.

| Aug 4, 2009

A very '90s take on a 1660s tale written in 1850, as a picture of early colonial life it's about as convincing as Pocahontas.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

Not only does the film bear little resemblance to the source novel, but it's cluttered with ridiculous symbolism.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | Aug 31, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 7, 2005

Oh, Roland Joff, thy free adaptation of the Hawthorne classic didst produce abudant derisive laughter. Didst thou once direct 'The Killing Fields?'

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | May 19, 2005

For anyone who's ever wondered why Hawthorne left out the mute servants, red cockatoos, and rolls in the proverbial hay. As Hawthorne himself would say: "Ignominious!"

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 31, 2004

If you've read the book you won't know the ending. Let's just say that Indians with flaming arrows come to the rescue. They manage to keep a straight face, which is more than anyone in the audience will be able to do.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 30, 2004

A hysterically incompetent camp classic, highly recommended for English department faculty parties.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/5 | May 26, 2004

Love the book or hate it, but no novel deserves the shabby treatment that director Roland Joff and screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart have given the classic novel.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 13, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 20, 2003

Corny, heavy-handed, but definitely romantic, The Scarlet Letter is a mindless piece of historical amusement.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 14, 2003