White Oleander

    White Oleander
    2002

    Synopsis

    A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.

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    Cast

    • Alison LohmanAstrid Magnussen
    • Michelle PfeifferIngrid Magnussen
    • Renée ZellwegerClaire Richards
    • Robin WrightStarr
    • Cole HauserRay
    • Melissa McCarthyParamedic
    • Taryn ManningNiki
    • John BillingsleyParamedic
    • Solomon Burke Jr.Guard
    • Melissa MarsalaJulie

    Recommendations

    • 83

      Portland Oregonian

      The result is an experience of painful awakenings, gorgeous textures, committed acting and silences filled with moment -- a lovely balancing act
    • 75

      Baltimore Sun

      Overall, you're left wondering why every big novel needs to be a movie. White Oleander would work better as a four-part miniseries -- or at least as a less conventional screenplay.
    • 70

      Washington Post

      A lot of White Oleander is heavy sledding of the waa-waa, touchy-feely kind. But just as much of it has the sting of something so real it hurts.
    • 63

      ReelViews

      It's not edgy or groundbreaking, but it tells the story it sets out to tell. For what it is, Kosminsky's picture is polished and effective. If only the movie had taken more risks or possessed a keener edge...
    • 60

      The A.V. Club

      White Oleander goes through the paces with a little more dignity than usual, which is a mark of either director Peter Kosminsky's refusal to overplay the melodrama, or his inability to wring it for all it's worth.
    • 60

      Los Angeles Times

      This is a film without a center, a film whose young protagonist should have more texture, more of a compelling voice than she does. Through no real fault of the acting, young Astrid does not compel our attention the way she must if White Oleander is to succeed completely on the screen.
    • 50

      Charlotte Observer

      The overwrought White Oleander may be middling drama, but if it bears any resemblance to truth (which I doubt), it's a brutal indictment of the L.A. County Department of Social Services.
    • 50

      Rolling Stone

      The estrogen overload damn near did me in.

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