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Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, Colin Stinton ... see more see more... , Nick Hobbs , Jaclynn Tiffany Brown , Michael Haley , Peter Rnic , Steve Benham , Steve Morphew

Patrick Marber's acclaimed stage drama about the romantic interactions of four people has been given a reverent screen adaptation by director and producer Mike Nichols. Dan (Jude Law) is a writer in L... read more read more...ondon who wants to finish a novel, but in the meantime supports himself by writing obituaries. One day he chances upon Alice (Natalie Portman), a beautiful young American expatriate, working as a stripper, when he sees her get hit by a car. Alice immediately falls for Dan, and gives him her love without reservation. Dan is initially enchanted with Alice, and returns her affection, but while she inspires him to write his novel (based on her life), her neediness begins to wear on him. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who is hired to take a portrait of Dan for the dust jacket of his book; Dan is attracted to her easy confidence, and while the two of them flirt, Anna soon (inadvertently through Dan's playful machinations) meets Larry (Clive Owen), a dermatologist, and marries him. Dan can't get Anna out of his mind even though she's married, and the two become lovers, but Dan is frustrated by the fact that Anna is reluctant to leave Larry for him. Patrick Marber wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of Closer; it was the playwright's first feature-film credit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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80% liked it

217,249 ratings

Critics

68% liked it

202 critics

R, 1 hr. 43 min.

Directed by: Mike Nichols

Release Date: December 3, 2004

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DVD Release Date: March 29, 2005

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Stats: 16,123 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (16,123)

  • brooklynspo
    May 20, 2007
    brooklynspo
    Hello stranger. Depressingly adult anti-romance.

    Compare with the the similarly themed and entertaining Carnal Knowledge for a look at what I think is director Mike Nichols losing a step or two - actually impressively little for 33 years down the road.
  • cosmo313
    October 4, 2011
    cosmo313
    Based on a play (and written by that play's creator), this is a film about love, lust, relationships, betrayal, and a generalization about some, but not all, facets of human sexuality and desire.

    It covers a period of several years and follows four people who all start as stran... read moregers with one another, but end up tightly connected (and disconnected) over and over again. It's a good concept, and a lot of it works, but I feel like this was better as a stage play sense it really doesn't come off as all that cinematic in its execution. Also, it's rather pretentious and I'm not sure if this is quite what it really could have been.It makes some good statements about the human condition, but I was left a little underwhelmed.

    I will give this film a lot of credit and say that it does have some sharp writing, great dialogue, and some fantastic performances. It has a few scenes that are just absolutely fantastic and rather devastating, but I also feel like this film could have been far edgier, scathing, and really do the topic justice.

    As I mentioned above, the acting is great. All of the four mains are firing on all cylinders, yet it's the two women who really shine here, mostly because they are each playing characters that help them shed certain images and reputations they have acquired. That's not to say that the men don't excel, because they do. The men just don't have the better roles (but each does get a few really good moments with their roles).

    People seem to love this movie, but I just can't get onto that bandwagon. It's good, really good at times, but I feel like it's a watered down version of what it could have been. I was left underwhelmed, slightly dissatisfied, and hoping that the statements the film tried to make would really blow me away instead of being mostly interesting but not much more. Still, the film does have its moments, so that's why I'm still giving it a mild pass.
  • murphmann93
    June 23, 2011
    murphmann93
    Quite a sexy film. Weird and unusual but the film is well written. A must see!
  • garyX
    February 1, 2011
    garyX
    Mike Nichols directs a well observed and witty study of relationships based on the love quadrangle between two couples. Far from the usual sentimental drivel you'd expect from Hollywood style films about "romance", this movie which although can seem a little overly self conscious... read more in places, does have the kind of brutal honesty that superficially seems the antithesis. These lovers are in turns selfish, manipulative, spiteful and pathetic; just like real people. Jude Law is the perfect choice for playing a smug, self-involved asshole, Owen treads the fine line between likability and self righteous nastiness as does Portman's beautiful but emotionally needy bimbo. And Julia Roberts is inevitably Julia Roberts. At the end of the day you're still just watching a bunch of pretentious, priveleged, pretty people back stab each other and as such is not really my kind of thing, but if you're ever emotionally blackmailed by your other half into having to sit through a film about *cringe* "relationships" then this is far from the most painful. I am a man, after all...
  • jamers2011
    January 23, 2011
    jamers2011
    Fantasic film! I knew very little about this film going into it, so I had no idea what to expect. What I found was an intense, tragic story of the relatonships of four people. The story takes place over a period of many years, so the films jumps around alot, but I never felt lost... read more at all. The story was so brilliantly executed that I was completely taken in by it.

    The actors really added to this feeling. Natalie Portman and Clive Owen both give phenomenal performances, both worthy of Oscar noms. It was nice to see Natalie Portman's first "adult" role....now I can't wait to see her performance in Black Swan. Jude Law and Julia Roberts also give great performances. The acting in this film is fantastic and really adds to to complexity of the story. Yes, the characters piss me off like no other, but the performances add a sense of realism to the story, allowing for the audience to feel sad for the characters too.

    This is a very tragic, depressing story about "love." The thing I love about this film is how real it feels. Each character truly seems as if they could live near me, it's quite fantastic to watch. The script is brilliant, acting is phenomenal, story is tragic and real, the emotion is intense. This is a great film...not an easy film to watch with out being touched by it. I love it!
  • aliceinpunderland
    January 13, 2011
    aliceinpunderland
    Brutally candid in its treatment of love, lust, loneliness, and loss. Cited the play in my paper "Contemporary Drama Meets 20th Century Loose Mamas." Showed end of Anna and Larry's fight scene at an academic conference to illustrate how in modern society, it's not just the act... read more of adultery that dominates but the verbal vitriol with which it is told. Went over well :~P

    Unclear: does Alice/Jane die at the end? She does in the play, but I had always assumed the last scene in the movie was just a pretty "can't take your eyes off of her" bookend. Upon rewatch, Justin pointed out that the pedestrian light is red as she crosses the street, perhaps foreshadowing her imminent demise. If so, Nichols could have made a slightly bigger deal about it - a slow-mo onrush of concerned passersby, crowding towards the bottom of the screen as the scene fades out.
  • emilebond007
    January 4, 2011
    emilebond007
    Perfectly written, perferctly directed, perfectly acted.
  • nadirairdiana
    December 23, 2010
    nadirairdiana
    The most realistic romance movie ever created with 4 amazing casts : Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. The relationship between 4 people become more and more complicated in the movie. It's not a love triangle anymore, but quadrangle. Another not-so-ordinar... read morey kind of hollywood movie that offers smart performances. Mike Nichols gave us the darkest love story ever told.
  • kenstachnik
    December 15, 2010
    kenstachnik
    A funny, dark, honest and biting look at f-ed up relationships
  • SirPant
    October 21, 2010
    SirPant
    Patrick Marber is a funny writer eh! No pun intended, it's just hard to associate The Day Today with Closer. It's like a really rude version of something Yasmina Reza might write I thought. I'm all for anti-rom-coms though and this is the best adaption of a theatre production I c... read morean remember seeing (Interview is really good too but not as accomplished). The acting and the dialogue are both brilliant, although Julia Roberts probably wasn't worth the fee. I can find very little at fault with the film but I didn't really like it, the characters are unlikable, sure they're written that way and performed accordingly, I just couldn't really empathise or relate to them which took some of the enjoyment away from me somewhat.

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Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy
March 19, 2009
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Like dramas by Pinter and others, what seems trenchant and perfectly pitched in the theater can come off as arch even when skillfully transferred to film. Full Review

Peter Travers
March 7, 2005
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Vibrates with eroticism, bruising laughs and dynamite performances from four attractive actors doing decidedly unattractive things.

Terry Lawson
December 11, 2004
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

If it makes you uncomfortable, or leaves you disturbed, it has only done its job. Full Review

Robert Denerstein
December 11, 2004
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News

Closer has lots to offer: smart performances, archly funny dialogue and a feeling for the way a group of strangers can become so familiar that they're apt to rip one another to shreds.

Lou Lumenick
December 11, 2004
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Impeccably acted and directed -- but quite icy.

David Ansen
December 11, 2004
David Ansen, Newsweek

[A] chilly, caustic, foul-mouthed anatomy of modern romance. Full Review

Ken Tucker
December 11, 2004
Ken Tucker, New York Magazine

Nichols is back, his instincts for intimacy as cutting as ever... Full Review

Colin Covert
December 11, 2004
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

There's not an American filmmaker who better understands the scheming perversity and self-deception lurking beneath our passions. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
December 11, 2004
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

It does shock, I should say, in the way of men and women doing their psychological worst and most ruthless to push away those they have previously pulled close. Full Review

Roger Ebert
December 11, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There's a creepy fascination in the way these four characters stage their affairs while occupying impeccable lifestyles. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Larry: You women don't understand the territory, because you are the territory.
    • Alice: Oh, as if you had no choice? There's a moment, there's always a moment, 'I can do this, I can give into this, or I can resist it', and I don't know when your moment was, but I bet you there was one.
    • Dan: Everybody wants to be happy.
    • Larry: Depressives don't. They want to be unhappy to confirm they're depressed. If they were happy they couldn't be depressed anymore. They'd have to go out into the world and live. Which can be depressing.
    • Alice: Hello, stranger.
    • Larry: I'm Larry, the doctor.
    • Anna: Hello, doctor Larry.
    • Larry: Feel free to call me The Sultan.
    • Dan: I'v got to see you.
    • Anna: No, you are taken.
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  • Which actress stars in "Garden State", "Closer" and "Leon"?  Answer »
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