The Californians

PG

2005

1h 27m

Comedy

Drama

List

Reviews

19%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

A land developer (Noah Wyle) outrages environmentalists (Illeana Douglas, Kate Mara) by planning to build on coastal hills.

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Audience Member

Low budget but cute movie with two good main actors (Noah Wyle & Kate Mara)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I wasn't expecting much, but this was a pleasant surprise. More than it's face value drama, this is a sort of satire and analysis of who you let influence your voice and being. Kate Mara appears to play a supporting character, but she is actually the lead, while Noah Wyle and Illeana Douglas play her subconscious "angel" and "devil" characters. You get to decide which is which. It feels a bit unfinished in the end, and it's lack of detail in some of the plotlines make it not very believable, but overall these are minor complaints. It's a fun watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Audience Member

Ummm, yeah, the only real problem with this movie is that the story just doesn't connect. Noah Wyle seems really uncomfortable and miscast, the supporting acting and dialogue is really annoying. Hmm, I guess this movie is more of a disaster than I originally thought. The only bright spot, for me anyway, was the sequence with Kate Mara singing, but then they went and fudged that all up with a cheesy montage sequence! Damn them!

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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Audience Member

Silly character relationships, a bland and unbelievable romance, no chemistry, added to a pouty, young idealist as the main character will give you a headache. If the plot doesn't get you, the bad music will. On the good side, there are some very pretty scenes of San Francisco.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I found the film very irritating. Just the idea of a singing environmentalist falling for a housing deleloper is turn off. Illeana Douglas' character was the most irritating part of the film. The film is simply ridiculous.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Jonathan Parker

Director

Noah Wyle

Gavin Ransom

Illeana Douglas

Ransom

Kate Mara

Zoe Tripp

Cloris Leachman

Boatwright

Joanne Whalley

Luna

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Neva Chonin

San Francisco Chronicle

So leaden and obvious it's too somnambulant to be funny.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 21, 2005

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Sura Wood

Hollywood Reporter

Largely due to a loose, inconsistent script by Parker and Catherine di Napoli, it plays like a formulaic TV movie.

Oct 21, 2005

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Dennis Harvey

Variety

The film's edge gets softer as it goes - - in ways that might baffle all but the granola-scarfing well-heeled hippies it seemed to be parodying.

Oct 20, 2005

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Steve Rhodes

Internet Reviews

A very funny film ... skewers the sacred cow of environmentalism, a religion worshiped in LaLa Land.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 18, 2005

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Synopsis

A land developer (Noah Wyle) outrages environmentalists (Illeana Douglas, Kate Mara) by planning to build on coastal hills.

Director: Jonathan Parker
Producer: Kjehl Rasmussen
Production Co: Parker Film Company
Rating: PG (Brief Language|Mild Thematic Elements)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.1K
Runtime: 1h 27m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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