Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Dopamine

Play trailer Poster for Dopamine R 2003 1h 19m Romance Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
50% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Software designer Rand (John Livingston) creates an animated computer program for children and tests it on a preschool class that happens to be taught by Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), whom he has a crush on. He manages to begin a relationship with Sarah, but after he witnesses his parents' relationship deteriorate when his mother starts to suffer from Alzheimer's, Rand develops cynical, scientific opinions about the nature of love. Unfortunately, this upsets Sarah, who is more earnest and romantic.

Critics Reviews

View More
Geoff Pevere Toronto Star 03/26/2004
2/5
At bottom, what we've got here is a movie about a boy who meets a girl, loses her and tries to find a way to get her back. Which returns us to the original question: Can romance be reduced to scientific formula? Go to Full Review
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail 03/25/2004
1.5/4
Mostly a drab affair, unfolding in restaurants, office cubicles and anonymous apartments, in which characters talk endlessly about relationships in ways that suggest they think they're being intelligent. Go to Full Review
Jack Mathews New York Daily News 10/29/2003
2/4
An amiably slight independent film that probably should have gone directly to the Sundance Channel. Go to Full Review
Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com 05/08/2009
D-
...gut-wrenchingly awful--should be avoided at all cost. Rated R 84 mins. (D-)http://www.colesmith Go to Full Review
Betsy Bozdech DVDJournal.com 10/29/2006
2/4
While Lloyd and Livingston both turn in earnest performances ... their on-screen chemistry is never strong enough to give true legitimacy to either of their positions on love. Go to Full Review
Film Threat 12/06/2005
4/5
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
06/02/2010 "Dopamine" is a very slow moving movie. I bought it at "Hollywood Video" for $1.06 and I think I paid too much. A large part of the movie revolves around a little yellow bird named Koy Koy. Koy Koy is a character in a computer program. The graphics used to create the bird are very similar to the graphics in "Avatar". OOPS. I didn't mean to say "Avatar"; I meant "Pong". After I watched the movie, I put it in my box for Goodwill donations. This movie lasts 85 minutes. There is one positive thing I can say about this movie and I will add it to this review as soon as I think of something. See more 12/05/2009 A good story, asks genuine questions, and performed fairly well. See more 06/30/2009 Overall, this film is a little too indie/hipster. The science in this film (the source of its title) is just poorly-researched, badly-explained techno-babble. The film stumbles over itself when explaining the "chemistry" referenced in the title, often reducing the biochemistry of love to obvious stereotypes (e.g. "lots of testosterone"). Seeing as the entire film revolves around this topic (the biochemistry of love)... well, you get the idea. As a previous reviewer has said of the film, "poor execution killed it right off the bat". ... (but as a fan of "Sliders", I enjoyed Sabrina Lloyd's performance. Coincidentally, "Sliders" also takes place in San Francisco.) See more 02/27/2009 maybe it's interesting if you've never heard of the chemistry behind love before, but this left me a little bored. the parts with the computer programmers draggggged. it picked up when the lead actress was on the screen but got then it got to be too much *talking* about love vs. chemistry rather than *showing* it. See more 09/27/2008 It is a very interesting concept that love is not an emotion but a hormonal output- a reaction to the action. See more 09/04/2008 Strange, but romantic. Nice to watch. See more Read all reviews
Dopamine

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Punch-Drunk Love 79% 78% Punch-Drunk Love Watchlist TRAILER for Punch-Drunk Love The Velocity of Gary 22% 53% The Velocity of Gary Watchlist Hotel de Love 22% 56% Hotel de Love Watchlist The Housekeeper 78% 42% The Housekeeper Watchlist Snow Days 53% 63% Snow Days Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Software designer Rand (John Livingston) creates an animated computer program for children and tests it on a preschool class that happens to be taught by Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd), whom he has a crush on. He manages to begin a relationship with Sarah, but after he witnesses his parents' relationship deteriorate when his mother starts to suffer from Alzheimer's, Rand develops cynical, scientific opinions about the nature of love. Unfortunately, this upsets Sarah, who is more earnest and romantic.
Director
Mark Decena
Producer
Debbie Brubaker, Tad Fettig
Screenwriter
Mark Decena, Timothy Breitbach
Production Co
Kontent Films
Rating
R
Genre
Romance, Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 23, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$69.5K
Runtime
1h 19m
Sound Mix
Surround