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Nell

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Nell

PG-13

Released Dec 23, 1994

1h 53m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

57%

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35 Reviews

64%

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25,000+ Ratings

Cut off from the modern world, Nell (Jodie Foster) is a wild child, who has lived her entire life with her mother in an isolated mountain cabin in North Carolina. When her mother dies, she is found by kindly Dr. Jerome Lovell (Liam Neeson), who is fascinated by Nell and the language she has developed. Lovell and the equally curious psychologist Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) eventually camp out near Nell's cabin, slowly introducing her to the larger world she's never known.

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Critics Consensus

Despite a committed performance by Jodie Foster, Nell opts for ponderous melodrama instead of engaging with the ethical dilemmas of socializing its titular wild child.

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B-

Sep 7, 2011

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: 2/5

Jan 14, 2005

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Nell is an effective film, and a moving one. That is largely because of the strange beauty of Jodie Foster's performance as Nell, and the warmth of the performance by Liam Neeson, as a doctor who finds himself somehow responsible for her.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Quentin Crisp

Christopher Street

The film Nell featured Miss Foster, and was a tour de force (whatever that may mean).

Apr 21, 2022

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Mal Vincent

The Virginian-Pilot

Jodie Foster's performance is much better than the movie, but Nell is still one of those movies you should see.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 1, 2022

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Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

All of this proves somewhat uplifting and, in the end, fairly moving. Under Apted's caring direction, Foster gives a fearless, appealing, utterly uninhibited performance throughout.

May 22, 2018

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Glen B

The actors all put in a good job

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/20/24

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Audience Member

So many tremendous qualities in a film that has a fairly mediocre script. The premise is particularly pretty fascinating and I'm shocked to see how ho-hum the story continues to be well into the second act. Shot in the Fontana Dam region near the Tennessee/North Carolina border the exterior scenes are striking.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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ronald h

Looking back on this movie 28 years after its release, it seems like more of a curiosity than anything else. Jodie Foster's performance is just downright strange. It's overacting taken to the max----but then, I guess that's what the part requires. Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson are believable in their roles. Even their fake southern accents are pretty good. The biggest problem here is plausibility. Jodie Foster is supposed to be a "wild child" who has lived her whole life in a remote cabin in the woods, with no human contact other than her late mother and sister. Yet she has perfect Hollywood teeth. The scene in which she goes into a pool hall and shows her breasts is also ridiculous. She's supposed to be terrified of people. This is one of those films in which you're constantly asking questions about the unlikely scenarios, but the filmmaker wants you to just accept what you're seeing. If you can do that, it's watchable. The premise is certainly interesting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Effective, but do feel like that it left some unanswered questions... Jodie Foster, as always; is mesmerising! Not necessarily a must-see, but it's touching!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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J. D

So astonishingly vapid and bad it will leave you breathless with laughter.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/02/21

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Audience Member

The central flaw of the movie—which undercuts Foster's bravura performance and exemplifies the ham-fisted, shallow approach of the screenplay—is that Nell would have been raised by and would have mirrored herself after her aphasic mother for nearly 30 years, so any pretense towards her being a feral tabula rasa is unfounded.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

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Michael Apted

Director

Jodie Foster

Nell

Liam Neeson

Jerome Lovell

Natasha Richardson

Paula Olsen

Nick Searcy

Todd Peterson

Robin Mullins

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Synopsis

Cut off from the modern world, Nell (Jodie Foster) is a wild child, who has lived her entire life with her mother in an isolated mountain cabin in North Carolina. When her mother dies, she is found by kindly Dr. Jerome Lovell (Liam Neeson), who is fascinated by Nell and the language she has developed. Lovell and the equally curious psychologist Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) eventually camp out near Nell's cabin, slowly introducing her to the larger world she's never known.

Director: Michael Apted
Producer: Renee Missel, Jodie Foster
Screenwriter: William Nicholson, Mark Handley
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Egg Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 23, 1994, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.7M
Runtime: 1h 53m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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