Review: `` white oleander , '' the movie , is akin to a reader 's digest condensed version of the source material . 
Sentiment: negative

Review: if this is cinema , i pledge allegiance to cagney and lacey . 
Sentiment: negative

Review: in theory , a middle-aged romance pairing clayburgh and tambor sounds promising , but in practice it 's something else altogether -- clownish and offensive and nothing at all like real life . 
Sentiment: negative

Review: ( toback 's ) fondness for fancy split-screen , stuttering editing and pompous references to wittgenstein and kirkegaard ... blends uneasily with the titillating material . 
Sentiment: negative


Review: read my lips is a genre-curling crime story that revives the free-wheeling noir spirit of old french cinema .