Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Michael O'Keefe A successful businesswoman(Sigourney Weaver)turns into a social cripple; haunted by the disappearance of her three-year-old daughter 15 years ago. Her cold attitude cost her her marriage and put a wedge between her and her grown son. A young woman(Kate Bosworth),in the need of a place to stay, is befriended because she brings back memories of the little girl long-lost in the park. The story is intense and evokes sympathy with bittersweet thoughts of hope. Weaver is outstanding as the long-grieving mother; and Bosworth is very convincing as the unstable woman-child. The finale holds you at the edge of your seat and gripped with anticipation. Strong in support are: Keri Russell, Alessandro Nivola, Elias Koteas and David Rasche.

Kitty Wright What a surprise. Collipol's comments were right on. I guess people either hated this or loved it. I think it's really about how much we all want love fulfilled, how we cope with catastrophic loss, how far we are willing to go to fill that empty space, and how far the people who love us are willing to support us. Weaver made a wonderful transition from happy mom to a cold, disconnected woman, and back and forth again. Any woman with a "favorite child" or a personal and crippling loss can empathize - but I am astounded by the story and the performances.The young woman who suckers Weaver is off-putting at first, an instant irritant, but by the end of the movie you really want her to love her new "mom" and you really want Weaver to have the daughter she never got to grow up with. It doesn't matter anymore whether she is or she isn't for reals, they become what they both want. Several scenes touched me so deeply I was stunned. It would have been so easy to make this a thriller, or maudlin, or predictable, but the director did not. It was engaging, mysterious, warm, frightening, very sad, sweet, and very deeply moving. The end was perfect; subtle and let you absorb it all on your own. I thoroughly enjoyed every performance - they all were extremely well thought out, well executed, beautifully written and they all added together for a delicate and meaningful story. Do it again! Please.

Argemaluco Some people suppose that since I am a fan of cinema,I also gotta be a fan of theatre,but it is not like that.I do not hate the theatre and I appreciate all the effort coming from the scenic art,but for some reason,all the plays I went to see did not leave me very satisfied,because I felt on them that the playwrights thought that the the most important characteristic of theatre would be enough for compensating the various fails from their plays.The characteristic I am obviously talking about is the presence of actors on live.There is an undeniable energy which flows between interpreters and spectators,which makes the drama more immediate and the emotions more intense.What I want to say is that although the presence of the actors on live may make the experience more cathartic,many playwrights use that as an excuse for presenting weak and predictable stories.The movie The Girl in the Park is based on a play,and maybe because of that I did not expect too much from it,because without the presence of the actors on live,I thought we would only have a weak story.Fortunately,that did not happen and I finished liking this movie pretty much.This movie represents the first work as a director from playwright David Auburn,who wrote the original play.He had already been involved on cinema,adapting one of his plays to the film Proof and writing the screenplay from The Lake House.And,most recently,he has had a pretty solid debut as a director with The Girl in the Park,at the same time he also made a good work as a screenwriter on it.The Girl in the Park brought me a satisfactory and very interesting experience.The best element from it is definitely the excellent performance from Sigourney Weaver.She perfectly depicts the emotional evolution from her character,and she is absolutely involved on it.Kate Bosworth,Alessandro Nivola and Keri Russell also bring competent performances,although they feel a bit darkened by Weaver.And,although he is on a small role,the great David Rasche brings a detailed and solid performance.The movie keeps a good tone and the story is always interesting.The fails I found on this movie are the following : on the one hand,some moments from the screenplay could have had more elaboration; and on the other hand,the ending feels a bit abrupt.There have been various cases of playwrights who make very competent works on cinema on the directing and screen writing fields.Movies like Doubt,Yes and Titus are examples of that.The Girl in the Park is a new addition to that list,and in sight of it,I am definitely interested in watching more movies written and directed by Auburn.I recommend this movie,because I found it to be an entertaining and pretty interesting drama.

shirley-mitchell My only criticism of this film is in the casting of the son, Chris. He is shorter than Sigourney Weaver and this is genetically impossible. That said, all the actors did a great job. And just HOW did SW look so convincing as both a thirty and a fifty-year old? Some credit to the make up department, sure - but it was the subtle change in the set of her jaw, the rigidity of her body vs fluidity in the early scenes ... The fact that the secondary characters aroused curiosity added to the atmosphere - someone els has complained that their potential stories were not developed. But this was all part of Julia's withdrawal from the World, her loss of interest in anyone after she lost her child.