47
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhat is remarkable about "Mr. Jones" is how clearly it communicates his feelings. We begin to understand why manic-depression is sometimes described as the only mental illness its victims enjoy - on the up days, anyway.
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliSee Mr. Jones at your own risk. Those who enjoy excruciatingly manipulative melodrama will probably come out of this movie spouting words of praise. Those who don't find fulfillment in that sort of "experience" would do better looking someplace where the first name of the title character is revealed.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyA high-energy performance by Richard Gere and an intensely brooding one from Lena Olin engage attentive viewer interest, but the stars are forced to overcompensate for a rather slow pace and lack of plot.
- 50Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerLos Angeles TimesPeter RainerThe filmmakers are so driven to show us Mr. Jones as a harrowing free spirit that they don’t put much faith in his redemption. They’re as hooked on Jones the high-flyer as Libbie is.
- 50The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinBut the screenplay, by Eric Roth and Michael Cristofer, can sound pat enough to diminish the characters.
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumAnother chapter in the ongoing struggle between the talented Mike Figgis (Stormy Monday, Internal Affairs, Liebestraum) and studio recutters and reshooters, this intriguing but unsatisfying love story between a manic-depressive (Richard Gere at his best) and his sympathetic therapist (Lena Olin) makes memorable uses of both its west-coast settings and its cast (which also includes Anne Bancroft), but, like Liebestraum, it seems to come to us with several parts missing.
- 40Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovGere is excellent as this disturbed fellow; his twitches and too-happy smile are right on the money, but this only serves to illuminate the ramshackle state of the rest of the film, which is a shame: good, honest films dealing with mental illness are exceedingly few and far between. This, however, is not one of them.
- The film pretends to be seriously concerned about the intersection of madness and identity, but never explores who these people really are. Instead of showing two people developing genuine intimacy through tenderness and slow, hard-won honesty, we see hysterical behavior generating hysterical responses. This is less psychodrama than Harlequin romance.
- 40EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanFiggis, reunited with Gere after Internal Affairs, went through the Hollywood mangle on this one, and despite flashes of insight, anything worthwhile gets lost in a script that strains too hard for truth and provokes unfortunate big laughs.
- 40Time OutTime OutIn its present state, the film veers unsteadily between overblown romance and a portrait of a disturbed and pained man as a wacky guy who's fun to be with. Small wonder that the director has disowned the release version.