Cerebral Cosmopolis Divides Critics

Critics differ wildly when it comes to David Cronenberg's latest film. Closely based on Don DeLillo's novel, Cosmopolis tells the story of an insanely wealthy young man, played by Robert Pattinson, and his limo.

• The movie "can be maddening in its slowness, its reliance on dense, hyperstylized dialogue, and its casual dismissal of traditional story structure," writes Dana Stevens at Slate. "But it’s also bracing in its unapologetic engagement with language and ideas, not to mention with global economic reality."

• "Mr. Cronenberg’s direction throughout Cosmopolis is impeccable," writes Manohla Dargis in a glowing New York Times review that calls the movie a "cold, funny number about the erotics of money and the seduction of death."
• But in the Los Angeles Times, Betsy Sharkey disagrees, calling the film "a disappointment" from Cronenberg. As for Pattinson, the "heartlessness necessary to make us hate (his character), or fear him, is just not black enough to be believable."
• Claudia Puig doesn't mince words in USA Today, calling the film "leaden, obtuse, and ultra-pretentious," not to mention "willfully confounding, indulgent, claustrophobic, and obfuscating, more concerned with attitude than clarity of focus."

(More David Cronenberg stories.)