The movie has poise and a lightly perspiring sexiness, but also an uncertain sense of humor...

| Mar 15, 2021

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 30, 2006

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 11, 2003

Fizzles out in the third act, but we're long past caring. By then, Frances McDormand has usurped the movie and turned it into a lesson in character acting.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 24, 2003

Self-discovery seems to be the goal, but the revelations hardly seem worth the work.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 18, 2003

McDormand is superb. Likewise Bale and Nivola.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 17, 2003

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 13, 2003

If there is one reason to see Laurel Canyon, it's to witness McDormand in the kind of role she's long deserved.

| Apr 11, 2003

Laurel Canyon's end isn't entirely satisfying, but the story works.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Apr 11, 2003

Thanks to the performances and the general looseness of the script, the movie is more appealing than it has any business being.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2003

[Cholodenko's] smart script and sensitive directing make up for sluggish pacing, the picture's one major flaw.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 4, 2003

Never reaches the bar it sets for itself.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 4, 2003

Plays out like a slow-motion sex farce.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 4, 2003

[A] tame exercise in hedonism and self-discovery.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 28, 2003

Too stilted and pre-programmed to come alive.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 28, 2003

More obvious and superficial with, except for Ms. McDormand, rather soapy and cartoonish elements.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 27, 2003

An engaging, entertaining glimpse into the lives of musicians nestled in the titular Hollywood Hills enclave.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 27, 2003

A flawed but smart independent film whose virtues outweigh its flaws, and whose virtues are distinct.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 14, 2003

It's a pleasant, good-natured film that's easy to enjoy.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 14, 2003

Thank goodness for Nivola ... who makes a charming degenerate, and McDormand in her sexiest role to date. They make up for a bunch of sins.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 13, 2003