This hypnotic, chilling thriller deals with people living in the margins: in this case, London's exploited immigrants...Steven Knight's smart, if overly plotted, script delivers social insights tautly wrapped in genre thrills.

| Mar 13, 2018

An intelligent and extremely well-made romantic drama that tells an intriguing story with economy and insight.

Full Review | Nov 27, 2007

An impressive mix of entertainment and social comment, spinning a great mystery even as it confronts an ugly world.

| Nov 27, 2007

A sympathetic, engaging and politically astute slice of modern urban realism, set in the twilight world of London's community of recent immigrants and asylum seekers, and directed with Frears' habitual professionalism and sensitivity.

| Jan 26, 2006

With his new film, the 2002 Toronto Film Fest favorite Dirty Pretty Things, Frears returns to the realm of the dark and twisted with gutsy aplomb.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 12, 2005

A fascinating sight to behold.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 31, 2003

This is the sort of film that requires your full attention -- and then amply rewards it with a wealth of nuances.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2003

Ejiofor, a veteran British stage actor, is well cast.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2003

This is a sordid story but ultimately not a depressing one.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Aug 15, 2003

Few movies create such perfect pitch among character, plot and setting.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 15, 2003

Although the film delves into an interesting topic -- black marketeers trading in human flesh -- the approach is far too clinical.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2003

Half love story, half horror story, it's like an urban legend with a conscience.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 2, 2003

If you go with the film -- and I did -- it will be because the quiet empathy of the central performances carries you over the plot holes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2003

The acting is superb in Dirty Pretty Things, especially Ejiofor as the embattled Okwe and Tautou as the exploited Senay.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 1, 2003

Frears has made a string of fine films on both sides of the Atlantic ... and here he's touched down on a London few know.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2003

A classic piece of Frears's fine carpentry.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2003

It ponders human worth, physical and emotional, with a mix of outrage and tenderness that's hard to fault.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 1, 2003

Dirty Pretty Things is in fact dirty and pretty, reminding us how much beauty there can be in the things we would rather not see.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2003

It offers as its hero an extraordinary fellow: He's an authentic moral being who, though the universe has gone all twisty-crazy into greed, mendacity and manipulation, nevertheless clings to his own code.

| Aug 1, 2003

A unique gem.

Full Review | Aug 1, 2003