The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Twentieth Century Fox''s The X-Files: I Want to Believe, based on the ''90s TV series, has found few believers among the nation''s film critics. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times pronounces it "Baggy, draggy, oddly timed and strangely off the mark." Claudia Puig in USA comments that the film "just can''t capture the magic" of the original series. Lou Lumenick in the New York Post dismisses it with a ho-hum review, saying that it "is atmospheric and movies briskly, but it''s basically TV writ large." In the New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman, who admits that she was a fan of the TV series, latches on to the "out there" truth. "The truth is, the mystery pales next to the best X-Files plots," she writes. Also comparing the movie with the TV series, Jan Stuart comments in the Los Angeles Times, "Even at its stride, The X-Files was a load of malarkey. But it was thoughtful malarkey and compulsively watchable. One could say the same about the first two-thirds of The X-Files: I Want to Believe before it spins out of control and into a delirious plane of awfulness." On the other hand, Roger Ebert, who begins his review seeming to make fun of the movie''s plot, winds up praising it. "I make it sound a little silly," he acknowledges. "Well, it is a little silly, but it''s also a skillful thriller."