20th Century Fox presents a film written, directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh. Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem. Running time: 99 minutes. Rated R (for some sexuality/nudity).
Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, starring George Clooney, is receiving perhaps the most diverse reviews. Consider two from the same state: Eric Harrison in the Houston Chronicle waxes rhapsodic about it, writing, Like the mesmerizing music that breaks out occasionally in Steven Soderbergh's rare and beautiful Solaris, the movie is a mixture of chilliness and warmth. It keeps you at arm's length even as it beckons you closer. But Philip Wuntch comments in the Dallas Morning News: Its audacious ambitions sabotaged by pomposity, Steven Soderbergh's space opera emerges as a numbingly dull experience. Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune calls it a lovely, eerie film that casts an odd, rapt spell. But it's almost willfully anti-spectacular, so much so that audiences expecting a typical sci-fi action film with star George Clooney, or even a typical movie, may be alienated or bewildered. But Glenn Whipp in the Los Angeles Daily News remarks: Judging from all the head scratching and verbal bursts of disgust heard after a recent screening of the film, it's safe to say that the most typical responses veer between apathy and outright anger.