 Clint Eastwood is drawing the best reviews of his career for Million Dollar Baby -- and he has received some pretty ecstatic ones in the past. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times calls it "a masterpiece, pure and simple, deep and true." Ebert also has special praise for Hilary Swank, the "baby" of the title, a young woman who wants to escape her dull life as "trash" by becoming a boxing champion. He calls her performance "astonishing." Likewise Lou Lumenick in the New York Post comments that Eastwood "scores a knockout" as both the director and co-star of the film. The movie is, he says, an "exquisitely realized masterpiece." Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune gives the movie four stars. He, too, praises Eastwood's direction, then remarks about his performance: "It's a pleasure to see him in the saddle again: to watch how, in maturity and old age, he still commands the screen so effortlessly, still makes his co-workers shine so brightly and still, as always, delivers in the last rounds." Mike Clark in USA Today, who also awards the movie four stars, writes: "Great scene follows great scene, taking the movie to fresh levels."David Answen in Newsweek adds: "Eastwood gives his most daring, emotional, unguarded performance. Jon Anderson in Newsday says that Eastwood's acting and directorial skills show "the mark of a master. An old master? You wouldn't know it from this film." And A.O. Scott in the New York Times calls Million Dollar Baby "the best movie released by a major Hollywood studio this year." |
