Waking the Dead

Play trailer

Waking the Dead

R

Released Mar 24, 2000

1h 45m

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

50%

Tomatometer

56 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) has long been on the road to political candidacy. After the Coast Guard, he enrolls in law school and meets firebrand activist Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly). Taken by her passion and beauty, Fielding pursues her. But their romance is cut short when she is killed doing aid work in Chile. Nearly a decade later, Fielding is closer than ever to his political dreams, but he is haunted by visions, and by a growing feeling that Sarah is alive.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: C

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Bruce Westbrook

Houston Chronicle

You can embrace this movie's message, which has less to do with political agendas than basic human decency and the enduring power of love. And if that's not enough to make a film worthwhile, we don't know what is.

Rated: A-

Jul 21, 2005

Full Review

Stephen Holden

New York Times

Painfully earnest.

May 20, 2003

Full Review

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

Crudup and Connelly outperform the material.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 23, 2010

Full Review

Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

Waking the Dead is D.O.A., and none of its manifest good intentions are capable of resuscitating it.

Rated: D

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

Chuck O'Leary

Fantastica Daily

Rated: 2/5

Sep 27, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

Ohad R

The story is about Sarah (Jennifer Connolly) and Fielding (Billy Crudup) who are 20 somethings; passionately in love. Sarah is dedicated to helping Chileans fight their dictatorship (in the 1970's), and Fielding wants to go into US politics. Things unravel when Sarah is killed in a bombing masterminded by Chilean agents. Afterwards, Billy tries to continue his political march, but is haunted by visions of Sarah. Is she really dead? Will he ever see here again? What are all the things he wanted to tell her but never got a chance? For me, this talks to the places where a loved one dies, and you never get the chance to say goodbye. There is no closure, you are forever thinking about the all the things you could or should have said. This movie deserved to be a commercial success, I wish it was.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/16/25

Full Review

Johann S

Jennifer Connelly is a fox, I’d totally plunge my uncut tallywacker into her half-kosher business. Christ knows I wouldn’t be the first gentile to do so. The one true God is what’s between a woman’s legs and better yet Jennifer Connelly’s shapely legs.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/01/25

Full Review

Steve D

Never comes together thanks to a weak script and copout ending.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A beautiful and underrated movie!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

very under rated. Billy Crudup is amazing in this film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Frances H

A beautiful film and a beautiful love story. It really moved me.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/01/14

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Keith Gordon

Director

Billy Crudup

Fielding Pierce

Jennifer Connelly

Sarah Williams

Molly Parker

Juliet Beck

Janet McTeer

Caroline Pierce

Paul Hipp

Danny Pierce

Panther

25%

75%

Panther

Watchlist

Jude

80%

73%

Jude

Watchlist

Return to Paradise

70%

74%

Return to Paradise

Watchlist

No Looking Back

36%

64%

No Looking Back

Watchlist

I Want You

67%

62%

I Want You

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Fielding Pierce (Billy Crudup) has long been on the road to political candidacy. After the Coast Guard, he enrolls in law school and meets firebrand activist Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly). Taken by her passion and beauty, Fielding pursues her. But their romance is cut short when she is killed doing aid work in Chile. Nearly a decade later, Fielding is closer than ever to his political dreams, but he is haunted by visions, and by a growing feeling that Sarah is alive.

Director: Keith Gordon
Producer: Keith Gordon, Stuart Kleinman, Linda Reisman
Screenwriter: Robert Dillon, Keith Gordon, Scott Spencer
Distributor: USA Films
Production Co: Gramercy Pictures, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Egg Pictures
Rating: R (Sexuality|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 24, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $327.4K
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Most Popular at Home Now