Chapter 27 is a plodding curiosity of a film that ignores everything that could have made it interesting.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 24, 2021

It does give a sense of disturbance, but after a while it gets irritating, as much of it is repetitive without either developing the story or adding significance.

| Aug 22, 2018

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 16, 2011

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 16, 2011

Despite all his obvious effort and admirable Stanislavskian immersion, his Chapman is pure cinematic affectation, a compendium of great movie madmen of the past.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2008

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 18, 2008

The eternal question of why Chapman shot Lennon is not answered. And that's probably because there IS no real reason.

| Jul 12, 2008

his drama, about the three days leading up to the murder, never overcomes its inherent ghoulishness, largely because Chapman, like so many mentally ill people, is a huge bore.

| Apr 25, 2008

Chapter 27 just makes you feel bad for, and about, everybody -- including the wretched souls who made the thing.

| Original Score: 0.5/4 | Apr 25, 2008

By the end of this modest, strange venture, Leto made me believe it was worth being forced to hang out on the sidewalk with this man, if only to get a creeping sense of what that might've been like.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 24, 2008

Imagine hanging out in the head of a psychotic, indefensible loser for 80 minutes and getting nothing worth remembering or admiring in return.

| Apr 24, 2008

Despite the subject, the script is flat. Despite using the real locations, the production looked cheesy. Finally, the decision to strip Mark David Chapman (John Lennon's killer) of any humanity makes the narrative decidedly one note.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 21, 2008

The film is impressively mounted and Schaefer has made a directorial debut of distinction, but it is an uncomfortable ride from the opening scenes of Chapman arriving in New York to the inevitable, inexorable final scene.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 18, 2008

Stop the madness and please avoid this film at all costs.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Apr 18, 2008

The film manages to be entirely about Mark David Chapman without saying a single insightful thing about him.

| Original Score: D- | Apr 14, 2008

If [director] Schaefer's intent was to provide some sort of insight into Chapman's character, some hint of explanation for this senseless tragedy, he fails, probably because there's none to be found beyond one lonely guy's addled brain chemistry.

| Original Score: C | Apr 11, 2008

Chapter 27 is far from flawless, but Leto disappears inside this angry, mouth-breathing psycho geek with a conviction that had me hanging on his every delusion.

| Original Score: B | Apr 9, 2008

There are cheesy special effects and even cheesier gags, and the schmaltz eventually piles on neck-deep.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 4, 2008

It's a train-wreck turn in a dreary movie about a self-pitying loser responsible for murdering a beloved pop icon.

Full Review | Apr 4, 2008

[Leto's] mumbled voiceover may perfectly reflect Chapman's inner world. [But] who wants to enter that world? Neither Chapman ... nor his inner life is very interesting ... I was looking at my watch before the first third of the movie had passed.

Full Review | Apr 3, 2008