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The Cry of the Owl

Play trailer Poster for The Cry of the Owl R 2009 1h 40m Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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11% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 20% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Fleeing New York City, a failed marriage and a fragile mental history, artist Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) moves to small-town Pennsylvania. There he becomes fascinated with the simple domesticity of a beautiful neighbor (Julia Stiles), watching her through the windows of her home --- until she invites him in for tea. A now mutual obsession triggers an affair that angers her boyfriend. When he vanishes, Robert becomes a murder suspect, gradually sensing he is the target of a larger plot.
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The Cry of the Owl

Critics Reviews

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Bruce DeMara Toronto Star 05/20/2010
1.5/4
Unfortunately, another bird beside an owl comes to mind to describe this misbegotten feature: a turkey. Go to Full Review
Kimberley Jones Austin Chronicle 03/19/2010
1.5/5
Considine -- a UK actor who's usually great -- rubs the Midlands out of his accent so vigorously he winds up tone-deaf and textureless. Go to Full Review
Robert Abele Los Angeles Times 03/12/2010
2.5/5
Overall, it's the kind of technically proficient, deliberately paced, grim sleepwalk that leaves one cold rather than cracked open. Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 06/13/2011
2/4
The Cry of the Owl, much like Highsmith's virtually unreadable book, is saddled with an absolutely ludicrous premise that proves an immediate detriment to one's enjoyment of the film... Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Seanax.com 06/11/2010
... preserves the doom and the emotional irrationality of Highsmith in this remarkably faithful adaptation, but never manages to capture the terrible helplessness and hopelessness... Go to Full Review
John J. Puccio Movie Metropolis 06/05/2010
5/10
It's not an entirely boring or offensive movie, just a rather distant and detached one. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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angela g @Sunflower378 07/17/2024 this movie is better than what the reviews say the acting is great and the twist is great as well See more Jelisije J 03/08/2023 I get slow burns, but this movie really takes the cake with its huge pacing issue and with its ridiculous unrealistic story that I couldn't believe real life people will say or do anything that happened in with this movie. See more 04/23/2022 Just pointless. Absolutely pointless. Every single person in this movie was just unrealistic and insane. See more ronald h 02/13/2021 In spite of its promising premise, _The Cry of the Owl_ is strangely flat and uninteresting. The dialogue is stilted and stiff, and the mediocre acting makes things even worse. Robert (Paddy Considine), a man who has suffered depression in his past (and maybe his present), is going through a divorce and has left the city and moved to a small town. In the beginning, we see him spying on a young woman who lives alone in a big country house. He does this habitually. The woman, Jenny (Julia Stiles), catches him peeping one night. But surprisingly, she ends up inviting him in for coffee. Eventually, she starts following him around and trying to start a relationship with him. Jenny's boyfriend Greg (James Gilbert) is not happy about this and ends up confronting Robert. A fight ensues, and Robert leaves him lying on the ground by a river, alive but dazed. Next thing we know, Greg has disappeared, and the cops suspect Robert is responsible. Sounds like thriller material, but there's not much thrilling going on here. The movies moves slowly, but not like a slow burn in which suspense builds slowly. Rather, it just plods. I never thought Julia Stiles was much of an actress. Here, we're guessing that her character will turn out to be a psycho bitch, but she just has zero complexity. She delivers her lines like a manikin. Considine is a competent actor, but for some reason, he doesn't manage to make Robert very likeable or sympathetic. A bad script and lackadaisical direction are at least partly to blame for that. The other actors fare no better, including the two detectives, who are basically cardboard cutouts. Because there is a mystery involved, I hung in there to see the outcome. The reveal about 70 minutes into the story is so predictable and ludicrous, I can't believe I didn't see it coming. Perhaps its because I was so disinterested to begin with. But incredibly, things get even sillier after the reveal. By the end, I was asking myself, "Why did I sit through this?" See more 02/08/2021 It started out kinda slow and unbelievable and I almost stopped watching it, but I kept on watching and ultimately got really into it. I was tryin to figure out who was actually behind all the pitfalls Robert was facing. Everyone was a suspect even Jenny's bestfriend's Susie's partner but then the movie just ended explaining nothing and to me that's so frustrating. I felt I just wasted an hour and one half of my life I can never get back uuuggghhhh! See more 05/28/2017 Shite movie, horrible cast. Ugh, just the worst. See more Read all reviews
The Cry of the Owl

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Movie Info

Synopsis Fleeing New York City, a failed marriage and a fragile mental history, artist Robert Forrester (Paddy Considine) moves to small-town Pennsylvania. There he becomes fascinated with the simple domesticity of a beautiful neighbor (Julia Stiles), watching her through the windows of her home --- until she invites him in for tea. A now mutual obsession triggers an affair that angers her boyfriend. When he vanishes, Robert becomes a murder suspect, gradually sensing he is the target of a larger plot.
Director
Jamie Thraves
Screenwriter
Jamie Thraves
Production Co
BBC Film, Studio Hamburg International Production, Myriad Pictures, Sienna Films Inc., MACT Productions, The Harold Greenberg Fund
Rating
R (Violence|Language)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 12, 2010
Runtime
1h 40m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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