Variety
Part showbiz sendup, part ghost story, part dysfunctional-family drama, the movie instead comes across as so much jaded mumbo-jumbo.
Full review
Maps to the Stars
David Cronenberg directs Mia Wasikowska, Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and a menacing John Cusack in this multi-narrative dark comedy/satire on Hollywood and its toxic effect. Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2014.
The Weiss family is the archetypal Hollywood dynasty: father Sanford (Cusack) a psychotherapist who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Christina (Williams) looks after the career of their son Benjie (Evan Bird, TV’s The Killing), a child star and a douche. One of Sanford’s clients, Havana (Moore), is an ageing actress pining for a comeback and whose dead mother - also an actress - haunts her.
Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was nine and his sister, Agatha (Wasikowska), has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania.
Best Actress (Moore) at Cannes Film Festival 2014
2014Rating: MA15+, Strong themes, violence, sex scenes and coarse language111 minsCanada, USA, France, Germany
Drama
- Director:
- David Cronenberg ('The Fly', 'Eastern Promises', 'A History of Violence', 'Videodrome')
- Writer:
- Bruce Wagner
- Cast:
- Mia WasikowskaJulianne MooreRobert PattinsonJohn CusackCarrie FisherSarah GadonOlivia WilliamsEvan Bird
Maps to the Stars / Reviews
Total Film
A script written in venom, Cronenberg on bullish form and a cast on full power; this is one of the best Hollywood take-downs ever mounted.
Full reviewTime Out
This creepy portrait of Beverly Hills screw-ups is deeply silly, but it has just enough venomous bite
Full review
The Guardian
A gripping and exquisitely horrible movie about contemporary Hollywood - positively vivisectional in its sadism and scorn.
Full review
Hollywood Reporter
Comes off like a prank more than a coherent take on 21st century Hollywood, even if there are crumbs of truth and wit scattered throughout it.
Full review
Empire Magazine
The Canadian horror maestro scrapes away the surface of Hollywood to discover a magnificently Cronenbergian outbreak of tortured families, reprehensible behaviour and extreme violence.
Full review
Share