Carroll's milieu is resolutely middle class and the crises encountered all too predictable.

| Jun 18, 2012

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 7, 2011

Carroll's characters spend so much time talking, albeit intelligently, that the connections they make seem peculiarly synthetic.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

All of these characters are more interesting when things are going badly for them than when the tide has turned, and Carroll's determination to make the final reel an extended bout of audience tummy tickling is disappointingly conventional.

| Jun 3, 2006

This charming romantic comedy with a Los Angeles setting cuts between seemingly unconnected miniplots the way some Robert Altman movies do.

| Jun 3, 2006

A very slight and inoffensive movie. It's a lot like L.A. itself, all surface, soothing and warm.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 3, 2006

The brightest spot belongs to Angelina Jolie, who is so compelling to watch she has chemistry with the furniture.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 3, 2006

Playing By Heart tries hard and sometimes succeeds -- and Jolie is terrific.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 9, 2005

Nothing more than merely watchable film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Oct 13, 2004

The dozen or so lead characters of Playing By Heart fear silence the way Biblical people feared locusts.

| Original Score: D | Mar 19, 2003

An underrated, dreamy drama about love, lust and infidelity amongst inter-connected Los Angeleans. Jolie rises to the challenge.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 9, 2003

The lack of time gives the last reel a fakey, tied-up-with-a-bow feeling, but good performances and a good script make this an enjoyable little romance.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 8, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 16, 2002

An intriguing patchwork of relationships converges into a portrait of modern love in Playing By Heart, a wry, satisfying emotional saga.

| Oct 15, 2002

A heavily mixed bag; high points come with Jon Stewart's sweet courtship of Gillian Anderson and a brilliant turn from a young unknown named Angelina Jolie.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 1, 2002

The script's overall artifice, combined with a convenient burst of "I love yous" and an all-too-obvious surprise ending, work to undermine an otherwise interesting concept.

| Jun 5, 2002

Willard Carroll's cleverly interconnected (sometimes annoyingly so) tale of six different relationships is populated by a horde of big-name stars...

| Mar 24, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 19, 2002

A well-scripted ensemble drama about eleven people in Los Angeles searching for love.

| Feb 28, 2002

If Playing by Heart is the kind of film that used to be known as a "woman's picture," it certainly provides more emotional nourishment than most other mainstream movies generate these days.

| Feb 14, 2001