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Plot Summary
Richard Gere stars in this gripping tale about a father obsessed with training his talented daughter for the National Spelling Bee. Eliza Naumann (Flora Cross) demonstrates such an amazing gift for spelling any word given to her that her father Saul (Gere) insists on coaching her himself. But as Eliza's success continues, Saul's newfound devotion grows causing huge changes for the entire family!
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
43%- Reviews Counted: 105
- Fresh: 45
- Rotten: 60
- Average Rating: 5.5/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Fine directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel (The Deep End) take a detour into mumbo jumbo.
Rotten: Co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, whose visual schemes lent a hypnotic aura to their previous collaborations ... don't find the right balance of story and image this time.
Fresh: The film succeeds, because both the tale and the young performers (Cross and Max Minghella as Eliza's teenage brother, Aaron) are so compelling.
Fresh: Reflecting Goldberg's virtuoso novel, the film sets up rich dichotomies of what people say and do, and of satisfying the self vs. pleasing the community.
Customer Reviews
A disconnect between the Plot promised and delivered
A bizarre movie. Not enough to do with the Spelling Bee unfortunately. Too much other stuff involved here that distracted from the claimed story line. Almost like watching a movie within a movie. Too bad because the cast performed well but couldn't overcome the confusing script.
Bee Season
Solid average to good in entertainment value. lt's a little bit of a plug for Kaballah which I wasn't too hot about but overall a decent movie.
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