Message in a Bottle
Reception

Message in a Bottle (1999)

Back to record

External reception

6.6
5 platform(s) · 7 ratings 57,303 votes
7.5/10 13,732 votes Synced 2026-07-28
6.3/10 42,693 votes Synced 2026-08-20
Audience 6.7/10 31 votes Synced 2026-07-25
Critics 4.0/10 Synced 2026-07-25
Audience 6.6/10 Synced 2026-07-25
Critics 3.2/10 Synced 2026-07-25
6.3/10 847 votes Synced 2026-08-24

External reviews

Lisa Alspector · Chicago Reader 90.00/100.00

It may not be “The Bridges of Madison County,” but the latest Kevin Costner romance is nearly as good as they get.

synced 2026-07-25
David Armstrong · San Francisco Examiner 50.00/100.00

A movie that barely lives.

synced 2026-07-25
Peter Travers · Rolling Stone 50.00/100.00

It's love with tragic complications, and director Luis Mandoki drags the torture out for two-plus hours.

synced 2026-07-25
James Berardinelli · ReelViews 75.00/100.00

It's not a great film, but it succeeds in being both tender and cathartic.

synced 2026-07-25
Sandra Contreras · TV Guide Magazine 50.00/100.00

The extremes of this production's assets and liabilities are embodied by Caleb Deschanel's cinematography and Gabriel Yared's score: One is as glorious and transcendental as the other is execrably sappy.

synced 2026-07-25
Owen Gleiberman · Entertainment Weekly 75.00/100.00

On paper, the movie sounds unbearably schlocky, but Costner plays Garret the reluctant backcountry prince as mythic but also foxy and life size.

synced 2026-07-25
Roger Ebert · Chicago Sun-Times 50.00/100.00

The climactic events are shameless, contrived, and wildly out of tune with the rest of the story. To saddle Costner, Penn and Newman with such goofy melodrama is like hiring Fred Astaire and strapping a tractor on his back.

synced 2026-07-25
Karen Schoemer · Newsweek 50.00/100.00

The film has its dumb points: too many shots of churning surf and lovers nestled in beach blankets, not to mention the premise that women find incommunicative, hulking shells like Blake the height of irresistibility. But it gets you.

synced 2026-07-25
David Sterritt · Christian Science Monitor 50.00/100.00

Animated version of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical.

synced 2026-08-22

lwl community

Community reviews

Your Review

Sign in to write reviews, reply to threads, and like content.

Community Reviews (0)