Eyes Wide Shut - Masterpiece or Crap ?

[Looking forward]

Eyes Wide Shut - Kubrick's last film - is it any good ? Is it a misunderstood masterpiece, or total crap ?

BTW, Kubrick said he thought it was his best ever film - but, according to Lee Ermey (Sargeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket) Kubrick phoned him 2 weeks before he died and said to Ermey that he (Kubrick) thought Eyes Wide Shut was "a piece of sh*t...and the critics would have him for lunch...")

 

["JUST SMILE"]

Eyes Wide Shut is probably best viewed as a de facto documentary detailing the disintegration of Cruise & Kidman's marriage.

 

[spastic_jedi]

It's a crap masterpiece.

 

[brilliant_brunette]

I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, it's not his best film but it's still worth the look. Good film.

 

[isp]

It is probably Kubrick's most pretentious movie and also his dullest.

 

[drew o]

Boring and self-indulgent.

 

[Lindsay M]

He died 4 days after it was first screened for execs. I think Eyes Wide Shut is better viewed when you know of all the conspiracy theories surrounding Kubrick. Although you've got to wonder whether some of these rumours arose because he refused to play the Hollywood game over the years and was a bit of a recluse.

 

[[email protected]]

Crap. Something he reportedly acknowledged himself shortly before his death.

So if you can't take his word for it....

 

[Ganja ♥ Baby]

I've seen this film twice and still don't get what the hecks going on. Totally weird.

 

[Brent P. Newhall]

I think Kubrick is a genius, and he had an off day.

You can't polish a turd

 

[simon g]

I've seen it, it's crap.

 

[mrs.moody_uzumaki]

over rated and a sad end, to a great film makers career.

 

[Maria_2244]

Lots of votes for crap, none for masterpiece, so far.

Well, it happened to David Lean with Ryan's Daughter, the critics said, "How can someone who made Brief Encounter produce a piece of sh*t like Ryan's Daughter ?" After that, Lean didn't make another film for 14 years.

Maybe, if Ermey is right, and you can believe him, Kubrick was afraid of a similar ear-bashing.

How can someone who made Dr. Strangelove, 2001 and Clockwork Orange (and others) make something like Eyes Wide Shut ?

That gives rise to more conspiracy theories - did Kubrick fake his own death to avoid having to explain to the critics why Eyes Wide Shut was so bad ? Did he really ghost-direct Spielberg's AI, which was also pretty bad ?

 

[Libbles1233]

Ryan's Daughter certainly isn't "sh*t".

Old fashioned & overlong perhaps but most definitely not rubbish.

Besides it was Oscar winning at the time of release so the critical drubbing was hardly unanimous.

 

[Austin M]

That's interesting, if Ryan's Daughter is Lean's worst film, is it less bad than Kubrick's worst film, Eyes Wide Shut (that is, if Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's worst and Ryan's Daughter is Lean's worst).

Or simply, is Ryan's Daughter better than Eyes Wide Shut ?

The New York Film Critics really disliked Ryan's Daughter and Richard Shickel said, "Well, they don't understand how the director of Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Brief Encounter could have made this piece of sh*t."

Tell you what, when I think about it, I actually prefer Ryan's Daughter to Eyes Wide Shut. It is less of a disappointment than Eyes Wide Shut, and seems to follow on from Dr. Zhivago, which some of the critics also did not like, but which also got some Oscars. But Lawrence of Arabia, I think, was Lean's best film, closely followed by The Bridge On The River Kwai.

I think Ryan's Daughter got 2 Oscars for Cinematography and Supporting Actor.

 

[Spiffs C.O.]

Vote here for "great". No masterpiece, but I love it. The music, the tone, the style...

 

[Nurse JC]

Masterful crap

 

[dominguezsex]

Didn't enjoy it one bit

 

[giantsaholic]

I reckon Eyes Wide Shut could well have been called, Stanley Kubrick's Dog's Dinner.

 

[Brendon]

Crap.