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The Safety of Objects

Play trailer Poster for The Safety of Objects R Released Mar 7, 2003 2h 1m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
49% Tomatometer 75 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold (Glenn Close) has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul (Joshua Jackson), and neglects her daughter (Jessica Campbell) and husband (Robert Klein). Lawyer Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson (Mary Kay Place) wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson) tries to rebuild hers.

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The Safety of Objects

The Safety of Objects

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Critics Consensus

The large cast of characters and scripting are too unwieldy, and the suburban angst theme feels tired.

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Critics Reviews

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Empire Magazine Rated: 4/5 Dec 30, 2006 Full Review Jamie Russell BBC.com Troche has created a truly moving film, upsetting and uplifting in equal measure. Rated: 4/5 Aug 5, 2003 Full Review Adam Nayman eye WEEKLY Simply put, there's too much going on, and too many fragile, damaged characters to fret appropriately over. Rated: 2.5/5 Jul 8, 2003 Full Review John A. Nesbit Old School Reviews mechanical film school exercise Rated: C Feb 15, 2012 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Though well-acted, Troche's third film, an adaptation of short stories, is a minor addition of a fractured, ensemble narrative to the overly populated genre of suburban malaise and anomie in the wake of the success of Mendes' Oscar-winner American Beauty Rated: C Jul 17, 2008 Full Review Oz eFilmCritic.com Four neighboring families, seven stories, one secret - one great movie. Rated: 4/5 Oct 19, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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steve d A talent cast and a collection of interesting characters made the most of a somewhat disjointed script. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member 2/5 --- "Why is man nothing w/o a purpose?" quote scribbled into... "Man is nothing w/o a purpose!" Perfect. Seems dragged down by its own heaviness in plot and abundance of characters, this movie is about 4 families/parents & kids with their own storylines that interweave. The transition isn't smooth and is more jerky and you're guessing [not in a good way] about what happened as the story slow [in a bad way] unravels. Has a good cast of Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Dermot Mulroney and even a young Kristen Stewart [who did fine work back in the day before being typecast as "Twilight" girl]. This movie felt really long...it's 2hours 1minute and you feel it. End was ok, buildup was molasses. "How did I get here? Somewhere along the way, things have gotten out of hand. I don't know how. I tried to do things right, but... maybe that's the problem. Maybe there is no right or wrong. We're ruled by chaos. That would make more sense. That there are no rewards, no punishments. Life isn't a series of results of things done right or wrong. It's all just random. Those are the rules. There are no rules." Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member A story of four suburban families - centred around an accident that has left Paul Gold, the musician son of one of the families, a vegetable - who's lives, which are seemingly unrelated, start to unravel but come together in the end. A surprisingly touching performance from Timothy Olyphant. Nice touch with the talking doll as well. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member didnt quite understand Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member A tamed down "Magnolia" (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999), this movie lost me many times. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIRDDDDDDDD movie!!!! there is really nothing more that I can say but that. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Safety of Objects

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold (Glenn Close) has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul (Joshua Jackson), and neglects her daughter (Jessica Campbell) and husband (Robert Klein). Lawyer Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson (Mary Kay Place) wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson) tries to rebuild hers.
Director
Rose Troche
Screenwriter
Rose Troche, A.M. Homes
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Clear Blue Sky Productions, Renaissance Films
Rating
R (Language|Sexual Content)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 7, 2003, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 13, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$319.1K
Runtime
2h 1m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Dolby Stereo
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