I didn't think it deserved any award nominations

Rating: 5/10 (15 October 2008)

I'm not sure why this movie got such high critical acclaim. I didn't think it was that good. First, it's one of those movies that skips around the timeline, which I don't particularly like. It starts to become confusing. Just show the film in time order. Also, the actors talk so fast, I could only understand what they said by turning on the closed caption. Basically, the movie centers on a lie told by a young girl, Briony. Briony sees her older sister and the house keeper's son near a fountain and gets the wrong impression. Then there is a mix up in letters and Briony reads the one she shouldn't. Next she catches her sister and Robbie in an intimate moment in the library. I think she is sort of jealous because she likes Robbie too and also thinks he is a perv. The twins run away and everyone goes outside and looks for them. Briony comes across her underage cousin with a guy in the woods. Her cousin claims she doesn't know who the man was. Briony didn't really get a good look, but assumes it must be Robbie and swears to it. She lies be saying she saw his face when she really didn't. This causes her sister and Robbie to live in misery. Robbie goes to jail and her sister can't forgive her. At the end we learn what happened to Cee and Robbie, and Briony does the only thing she knows to do to atone for her mistake.
The surprise ending was nothing earth shattering. The movie was just too long and it just didn't capture my attention.
FINAL VERDICT: Just OK. I sure don't think it was worthy of Oscar nominations.