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Gosford Park
USA Films


6.0

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 97 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

BOOKS:

Snobs by Julian Fellowes

MPAA RATING: R for some language and brief sexuality

Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Julian Fellowes, Ryan Phillippe, Eileen Atkins, Michael Gambon, Jeremy Northam, Helen Mirren, and Clive Owen

This ensemble murder mystery satire, set in 1930's England, revolves around an elegant hunting party weekend at a country estate, featuring an aristocratic family and their friends.

GENRE(S):	Mystery
WRITTEN BY:	Julian Fellowes
DIRECTED BY:	Robert Altman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 25, 2002 Video: June 25, 2002 Theatrical: December 26, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	137 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / USA / Germany

Was nominated for seven Oscars in 2002, including Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Altman), Best Original Screenplay (Julian Fellowes, who won the award), and two for Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren). Altman picked up a Golden Globe for Best Director, while the film received a total of five nominations.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It ranks among Robert Altman's best work ever, and that its many satisfactions derive in large part from a superbly written screenplay by Julian Fellowes that has no equal this year.

100

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A virtuoso ensemble piece to rival the director's "Nashville" and "Short Cuts" in its masterly interweaving of multiple characters and subplots.

100

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

At his best, Altman turns us into interlopers who have stumbled into a world that seems to predate us and persuades us it will continue to teem with life long after we leave the theater.

100

The New Yorker David Denby

Altman achieves his dream of a truly organic form, in which everyone is connected to everyone else, and life circulates around a central group of ideas and emotions in bristling orbits. [14 Jan 2002, p. 92]

100

USA Today Mike Clark

The movie is so fun that it wouldn't need the mystery to be top-notch entertainment.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

At a time when too many movies focus every scene on a $20 million star, an Altman film is like a party with no boring guests.

100

Slate David Edelstein

The exhilaration is slow to build. It doesn't come from any one thing but from countless crosscurrents, tiny bits of color that fill out the portrait.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Gosford Park abounds in scenes to savor. It's a feast, and one of Altman's best.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This territory is familiar if you remember the great BBC miniseries "Upstairs Downstairs," but Altman gives it a new twist with his restlessly roaming camera and incisively satirical approach. He's still near the peak of his powers.

100

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

A love affair between performer and filmmaker. The director shows off his ardor by eliciting from his actors aspects of their gifts that they themselves may not have known they had.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

In the best Altman manner there are no real heroes and villains, only people trapped by their vanity and ambition and the straitjackets of classism.

100

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Never has a film taken such relish in between-the-wars malice as Gosford Park.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a scintillating comedy-drama and one of Altman's most richly moving and entertaining pictures.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The movie might almost be winking at the fact that any single one of these performers could easily be the featured star of his or her own upper-crust period piece.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Taking advantage of a splendid cast, a sharply focused script and the fresh English setting, "Gosford Park" emerges as one of the most satisfying of Robert Altman's numerous ensemble pictures.

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

Altman's technique also allows his huge cast to act up a storm, in the best sense. Gosford Park has roughly half the best actors in England in it.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Without hesitation, I hand the comic award to Smith. She plays a pinched guest known as Constance, Countess of Trentham, to such a hilarious tee, her tee runneth over.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A wickedly astute and beautiful comedy of manners-cum-murder mystery, it's too dense, and occasionally confusing, to grasp fully the first time around. How lucky, then, that it's also too much fun to see just once.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Isn't much more than marvelous entertainment -- but then, that's a lot right there.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

It's the style of the thing, not the plot, that is the attraction here, the great way the cast has with the snarky dialogue.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

There are even more characters of interest here than in "Nashville."

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

So deliciously absorbing and well done.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

What a relief to see a movie in which an audience responds with peals of laughter to subtle facial shifts as well as punch lines.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

No matter which floor you're on, the huge cast is extraordinary, and Altman gives the actors free rein to bring their characters to life despite such close quarters.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's a very funny movie in that sniffy Brit way.

Newsweek David Ansen

A fine, well-groomed entertainment, but the road it takes has already been well paved.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

As with Altman's best movies, Gosford Park is above all an entrancing hum of atmosphere and texture.

Film Threat Tim Merrill

We have an authentic Old Master working in our midst, and Gosford Park will at the very least remind everyone how masterful a helmsman Altman can be.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

It isn't about where you get, but how you get there -- and the getting there is a chewy delight.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Qualifies as a solid double, maybe a triple.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

At its best it is one of the most dynamic movies from a most dynamic filmmaker, now 76.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

A British costume film that's funny but not at all fusty.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Such a glorious cast, deployed to such trivial effect!

Time Richard Schickel

Tedium overwhelms caring well before this endless film finally concludes.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.0 (out of 10) based on 97 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andrew S. gave it a10:
The people who dislike this film are just dumb. Not every movie is like a Will Ferrell comedy!!! Gosford Park is a smart film with intricate plots abound. It's pretty easy to understand if you are not stupid.

isil gave it a10:
Wonderful movie!

Keith M. gave it a10:
I wonder if we all watch the same movie when we sit in the dark together. A disingenuous statement, of course: our attitudes, expectations, distractions, taste, intelligence, knowledge, biases, and the state of our bladders after consuming pails of Coke all ensure we see something different. With Gosford Park I read of tedium, familiar territory, tiresomeness, boredom. What I saw in my several viewings was an embracing yet acerbic melange of genres polished to a single piece through a screenplay larded with wit, superb filming, and masterful performances. I think that as an indictment and acknowledgement of a period at its end and its denizens, it is as fine a movie as The Rules of the Game. Olympian.

Pam L. gave it a10:
A quick scroll through the user comments and you'll find there's little middle ground in assessing this film. Most people loved it or hated it. I'm in the "loved it" camp. I saw it in theaters and I own the DVD which I recently watched three times - once by itself and two more times listening to different commentaries. It is a beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, witty satire about upper and lower class with delightful music as well. And while I enjoyed this in theaters, I also like watching on DVD so I can turn on the captions -- that way I can catch all of the dialogue that goes on in this film which is made in a way that the viewer seems to be eavesdropping on household happenings.

Linda D. gave it a10:
Wonderfully sly, subtle and rich, this movie is a miracle and destined to be considered a classic wherever there are people who would rather not be led by the hand through a storyline. Those who come to the closing credits wondering what it was all about are many. Those who watch it over and over to catch just one more little bit that adds to their understanding of the plot are just as many. Yet, this is not a movie that encourages viewers to make up their own interpretation, but rather, hides all the answers in plain sight in a delightful puzzle. Perhaps Altman's use of multiple small stories woven together, yet told simultaneously, has put many people off. They are certainly difficult to follow at first. But the construct is elegant and well-worth a second look for anyone interested in movie-making of the highest caliber.

Greg A. gave it an8:
What grabbed about this film was the fly on the wall approach in a 1930's setting. I was transported back in time and was able to suspend all disbelief. This was wonderful. I particular liked the drawing room scene in which everyone was talking at the same time - so real! After about 45 minutes of letting myself mentally wonder about in the 1930's, I realised there was a plot line. To be frank, this wasn't that hot and if people watched it for the mystery it wouldn't score that highly.

Justin M. gave it a2:
This film is a period drama billed as a murder mystery. The murder event is almost incidental to the rest of the film. The plot is, as stated by others, difficult to follow thanks to Altman's wandering camera and microphone and the characters' thick accents. There were memorable performances, by Maggie Smith in particular, but this film has very limited appeal for the average moviegoer.

Gosford Park USA Films

Gosford Park
USA Films