Destined to be Misunderstood...

Rating: Null/10 (18 September 1999)

...which is of course true of every Kubrick film since 2001. Anyone who goes to see it without a learned appreciation of what film can do is wasting their money and time. You have to let it resonate in your mind for a long while and talk about it with other people before you truly get a sense of what Kubrick's saying and doing...even if you don't agree with it. Only Scorcese and Spielberg are still capable of pushing these kinds of boundaries, and that's genuinely unfortunate. As for the critics, they've had to sit through the mountains of bulls**t Hollywood spews out for mass consumption (and that's all it is -- God forbid people should be expected to THINK about a movie!) and all the hype that went with it (okay, Kubrick was part of all that, his untimely demise notwithstanding), that it's no surprize at all that they hated it. How could you appreciate a gourmet meal when the only food you've ever been given to eat is from McDonald's?
See this film (Cruise and Kidman are wonderful, BTW, together and apart; thought the gay-bashing scene had to have been suggested by Cruise!), but don't go to be entertained or because "Stigmata" was sold out. Go expecting to misunderstand it, and enjoy the process of getting to the "a-HA!"