It's not bad but the ending and the last hour was some terrible shit that went nowhere. I liked the first hour a lot but I can't forgive that shitty ending. Ultimately the movie fails cause it asks you to have sympathy for someone who participated in exterminating jews. Nice concept, idiots. We have enough Holocaust movies that are way better and more informative then this And Winslet, we get it. You have saggy tits with huge nipples. Enough already! I don't want to see you naked anymore!!!

My personal favorite of the five films nominated for best picture in 2008. Highly recommended.

Bizarre love story. After an interesting opening, the story just refused to progress. Scene after scene where characters nor their relationships evolved got to be a bit much. Plenty of times it had the potential to be moving, but on the whole I felt it rather emotionless. Kate Winslet gave a great performance, but it wasn't enough to make an alright film great.

The score, while not necessarily memorable, is I think the best way to describe the mood this film took, which is melodrama. The thing about it, though, is that it works pretty well. I knew nothing of The Reader going in, but having loved The Hours I was anticipating it. Daldry's presence here, unfortunately, seems a little non-existent. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I wasn't very emotionally invested. Maybe that's a criticism, maybe not. I don't know. All I can tell you is it's just good.

1/2 simplistic sex drama, 1/2 semi-interesting Oscar bait movie.

Winslet delivers a great performance, and the two actors playing Michael are decent. But this film, which has a pretty solid premise, goes through so many unnecessarily agonizing and torturous movements, depending on seemingly masochistic and withdrawn characters who make every decision appear so endlessly painful. Maybe I'm just bored with holocaust dramas, but there was solid potential here, especially in the first act and the beginning of the third, but too much melodrama ruined it.

Good film, Ralph Fiennes was terrific, and so was the younger character.

Le scénario est male ecrit (tout simplement), ce qui endicape fortement ce film !!!

A bit slow, especially in the middle part, but overall this was a good film about the teenager having a sexual relationship with an older woman in post-WWII Germany, leading up to a war crimes trial where it turns out not everything was what it seemed to be. Great performance from Kate Winslet, though maybe not Oscar-deserving. But please... either let your actors speak English or German, but not English with a annoying German accent. That's just stupid.

A very solid movie with good performances from most of the leads. But the story, especially the ending, had me really confused. I didn't know whether the movie was about the Holocaust, their affair or about the disabilty of being illiterate. It was a bit sloppy and fuzzy towards the end, but it was still a worthy watch.

Okay Movie

I knew virtually nothing about this movie going in, save that it's a Stephen Daldry film. That's probably the most desirable state to have when seeing this. Suffice it to say that it is one WEIRD love story; it's the kind of thing you could easily see not working, but it mostly does. Also kind of interesting in that it was just released, yet two of the producers are already dead. It helps a lot if you're a guy and had a really hot affair with an older woman when you were young

I didn't see trailer, or had any idea what the story was about. Guess that made me appreciate this film a lot.

I watched a censored version of this and I still found the sex scenes extremely hot; successfully manipulated me into being a nazi sympathizer.

WTF????????? And Kate got an oscar for this?????? no apology from de academy for ignoring her work from titanic to little children to eternal sunshine...to finding neverland....nd she gets it for an excuse for a movie-reader???????????? dey shud stock dis movie's video alongside american pie's in video stores nd put a marker-"warning, may actually make u go insane wid frustration and disappointment"

Winslet's character is supposed to be complex, but it turned out annoyingly obtuse. And same can be said about the film. All it can offer is excessive melodrama, and out of place erotica. At least it have some decent technical qualities.

Good acting. Yet it must be remembered good acting alone does not make a film worth watching.

The first half; a strong and interesting drama and romance that works largely due to Kate Winslets strong performance, and she's naked. 8/10. The second half: a kind of boring, middling whine-fest that opens up themes that it never explores. Kate Winslet is still good, but not naked. 6/10. Come for the first half, stay because... something

I'm not a big fan of Kate Winslet's boobs

First part was erotica and the second part was the same holocaust story. Yes, the film has good dramaturgy and acting.

Completely boring. The dialogue is beyond routine - so obvious, every moviegoer will be able to figure out what the badly constructed characters will say next. I don't even know what the intention of this flick is - should I feel bad about Hannah? Should I feel sorry for Michael? I didn't care for the two of them. The most horrendous aspect is yet another - the fact, that every German in Germany speaks English, yet children do not in at least one scene. Plus, David Kross cannot act at all.

I found this movie to be slightly better than average. Not particularly memorable, and sure as shit not Oscar worthy. There's really not much to say. It's pretty straight forward. The only interesting thing thematically going on here is the attempt to humanize SS soldiers, but that attempt pretty much crosses from sub-text to actual text. Not very clever. I could recommend the film for the performances I suppose, but the story isn't anything to get excited about.

The success of this film is founded mainly on Kate Winslet, great acting. The first part is good, but the end part is uninteresting, despite the relevant issues addressed.

Practically flatlines through the entire film, but Kate Winslet gives an incredible performance. The court scenes are done very well, but the rest is very disappointing.