Tuck Everlasting (2002 film)

Last updated
Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting (2002 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jay Russell
Screenplay by
Based on Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography James L. Carter
Edited by Jay Cassidy
Music by William Ross
Production
companies
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • October 11, 2002 (2002-10-11)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[ citation needed ]
Box office$19.3 million [1]

Tuck Everlasting is a 2002 American romantic fantasy drama film directed by Jay Russell and written by Jeffrey Lieber and James V. Hart, based on Natalie Babbitt's 1975 book of the same name. Narrated by Elisabeth Shue, the film stars Alexis Bledel, Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, Victor Garber, Jonathan Jackson, Scott Bairstow and William Hurt. The film was released in the United States on October 11, 2002.

Contents

Plot

In 1914, fifteen-year-old Winnie Foster is from an upper-class family in the American town of Treegap and wants to make her own choices in life. After being told that she will go to a boarding school, she runs off into the forest, where she meets Jesse Tuck, who is drinking from a spring at the foot of a great tree. She is kidnapped by his older brother Miles and brought back to the Tucks' home where they tell her they will return her as soon as they can trust her.

She becomes enamored with their slow and simple way of life and falls in love with Jesse. She learns that, by drinking water from a magic spring around a hundred years ago, the Tucks cannot age or be injured, and that they kidnapped her to hide the secret. They tell her that living forever is more painful than it sounds, and that they believe giving away the secret of the spring will lead everyone to want to drink from it and worry it might fall into the wrong hands.

A man in a yellow suit befriends the Fosters while Winnie is gone. He spies on the Tucks and desires the spring to sell the water. He makes a deal to return Winnie in exchange for the forest. He goes to the Tucks and orders them to reveal where the spring is; when they deny any knowledge of it, he threatens Winnie with a pistol. He calls their bluff by shooting Jesse and exposing his immortality; but in return Jesse's mother, Mae, kills him with the butt end of a rifle. A constable arrives and arrests Mae and Angus. Mae is sentenced to be hanged for murdering the man.

After being returned home, Winnie is woken by Jesse, who begs her to help him free his parents. The family fears that if Mae is hanged the next day, she won't die and their immortality will be exposed to the public. Winnie helps Jesse and Miles to break the Tucks out of jail and says goodbye to them. Jesse, who has fallen in love with Winnie, asks her to join them, but Angus warns her that it is dangerous to go with them as they will be hunted. Jesse tells Winnie to drink from the spring so that she will live forever and never age, and that he will come back for her when all is safe, then leaves, promising to love her until the day he dies. After the Tucks depart, Winnie chooses not to drink the water, as Angus warned her that being immortal is far worse than living a typical life and that she should not fear death.

More than 85 years later, in the present day, Jesse returns to Treegap on a motorcycle. He goes into the woods and at the base of the great tree finds Winnie's headstone marking the site where the spring once stood. The stone reads that Winnie became a wife and mother before passing away at 100 years of age. Jesse sits at her grave, smiling through his tears and remembering her.

Cast

Production

Filming took place from April 23, 2001, to June 11, 2001. The film was shot in Maryland, specifically in Baltimore, Bel Air and Berlin. [2] The film was filmed in 2.40:1 widescreen.

The film was narrated by Elisabeth Shue.

Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton — two of the future creators of the longest-running live-action sitcom in the history of U.S. television, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia [3] — met during tryouts for the film. Neither landed a role in the movie. [4]

Reception

Box office

On a $15 million budget, Tuck Everlasting grossed $19,161,999 in the US and $182,616 in other territories for a worldwide total of $19,344,615. The film was released on VHS and DVD on February 25, 2003. The film was filmed in 2.40:1 widescreen. All copies present the film in 2.40:1 widescreen. [1]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 60% rating based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The critical consensus reads, "Though slow-moving, Tuck Everlasting raises big issues and explores them with sensitivity." [5] On Metacritic, the film has a 66 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [6]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four, writing that the film "is too impressed with its own solemn insights to work up much entertainment value". He further wrote that the film's message was questionable, opining "the injunction to live life fully need not come with a time limit. That's why the outcome of the romance is so unsatisfactory." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>In the Bedroom</i> 2001 film by Todd Field

In the Bedroom is a 2001 American drama film directed by Todd Field from a screenplay written by Field and Robert Festinger, based on the 1979 short story "Killings" by Andre Dubus. It stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, and William Mapother. The film centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler (Wilkinson) is a doctor practicing in Maine and is married to Ruth Fowler (Spacek), a music teacher. Their son Frank (Stahl) is involved in a love affair with an older single mother, Natalie Strout (Tomei). As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of an unimaginable tragedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sissy Spacek</span> American actress and singer (born 1949)

Mary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for four BAFTA Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. Spacek was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

<i>Coal Miners Daughter</i> (film) 1980 film by Michael Apted

Coal Miner's Daughter is a 1980 American biographical musical film directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay written by Tom Rickman. It follows the story of country music singer Loretta Lynn from her early teen years in a poor family and getting married at 15 to her rise as one of the most influential country musicians. Based on Lynn's 1976 biography of the same name by George Vecsey, the film stars Sissy Spacek as Lynn. Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm are featured in supporting roles. Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, and Minnie Pearl make cameo appearances as themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexis Bledel</span> American actress and model (born 1981)

Kimberly Alexis Bledel is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles as Rory Gilmore on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007) and Emily Malek in The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2021). Bledel also had a recurring role in Mad Men in 2012 and reprised her role as Rory Gilmore in the Netflix reunion miniseries Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016).

<i>The River</i> (1984 film) 1984 film by Mark Rydell

The River is a 1984 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell, written by Robert Dillon and Julian Barry, and starring Sissy Spacek, Mel Gibson, and Scott Glenn. The film tells the story of a struggling farm family in a Tennessee river valley trying to keep its farm from going under in the face of bank foreclosures and floods. The father faces the dilemma of having to work as a strikebreaker in a steel mill to keep his family farm from foreclosure. It was based on the true story of farmers who unknowingly took jobs as strikebreakers at a steel mill after their crops had been destroyed by rain.

<i>The Rage: Carrie 2</i> 1999 American supernatural horror film by Katt Shea

The Rage: Carrie 2 is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Katt Shea, and starring Emily Bergl, Jason London, Dylan Bruno, J. Smith-Cameron and Amy Irving. The film is a sequel to the 1976 horror film Carrie based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Stephen King, and serves as the second film in the Carrie franchise. The film was originally titled The Curse and did not have connections to the Carrie novel or film, but was eventually rewritten to be a direct sequel to the 1976 film. Its plot follows the younger half-sister of Carrie White (Bergl), also suffering with telekinesis, who finds that her best friend's suicide was spurred by a group of popular male classmates who exploited her for sexual gain.

<i>3 Women</i> 1977 film by Robert Altman

3 Women is a 1977 American psychological drama film written, produced and directed by Robert Altman and starring Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule. Set in a dusty California desert town, it depicts the increasingly bizarre relationship between an adult woman (Duvall), her teenage roommate and co-worker (Spacek) and an middle-aged pregnant woman (Rule).

<i>An American Haunting</i> 2005 film

An American Haunting is a 2005 supernatural horror film written and directed by Courtney Solomon and starring Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy, and Rachel Hurd-Wood. The film was previewed at the AFI Film Festival on November 5, 2005 and was released in the UK on April 14, 2006 with follow-up in US theaters on May 5. The film is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, Canada, Romania, and the United States.

<i>Molly</i> (1999 film) 1999 American film

Molly is a 1999 romantic comedy-drama film about a 28-year-old woman with autism who comes into the custody of her neurotic executive brother. The film was directed by John Duigan and written by Dick Christie of Small Wonder-fame, and stars Elisabeth Shue as the title character, Aaron Eckhart as her older brother, and Jill Hennessy.

<i>Tuck Everlasting</i> American childrens fantasy novel

Tuck Everlasting is an American children's novel about immortality written by Natalie Babbitt and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1975. It has sold over 5 million copies and has been called a classic of modern children's literature.

<i>The Long Walk Home</i> 1990 film by Richard Pearce

The Long Walk Home is a 1990 American historical drama film starring Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg, and directed by Richard Pearce.

<i>Im Reed Fish</i> 2006 American film

I'm Reed Fish is an American romantic comedy film based on a story by Reed Fish. It was first released on April 25, 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival, then released theatrically on June 1, 2007, and on DVD on September 4, 2007. The film was directed by Zackary Adler and stars Alexis Bledel, Jay Baruchel, and Schuyler Fisk. Baruchel won the Best Actor award at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2007 for his role of Reed Fish.

<i>Violets Are Blue</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Jack Fisk

Violets Are Blue is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Jack Fisk and starring Sissy Spacek and Kevin Kline. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Post Grad</i> 2009 American film

Post Grad is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vicky Jenson and starring Alexis Bledel, about a recent college graduate who moves back in with her family while she figures out what she wants to do next.

<i>Hard Promises</i> (film) 1992 film by Martin Davidson

Hard Promises is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Martin Davidson. It stars Sissy Spacek and William Petersen.

<i>Tuck Everlasting</i> (musical) 2016 musical based on the American childrens novel

Tuck Everlasting is a musical based upon the American children's novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. It features music by Chris Miller, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and a book by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, with direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw. The musical had its premiere at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2015. It began Broadway previews on March 31, 2016; and opened on April 26, 2016, at the Broadhurst Theatre, in New York City. The production closed on May 29, 2016, after 39 performances.

Sarah Charles Lewis is an American actress. She played Winnie Foster in the musical Tuck Everlasting on Broadway.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is an American comedy-drama film series, based on the book series of the same name by Ann Brashares.

<i>Night Sky</i> (TV series) Science fiction television series

Night Sky is an American science fiction drama television series created by Holden Miller for Amazon Studios and Legendary Television. It stars Sissy Spacek and J. K. Simmons as a couple who possess a chamber leading to another planet. Chai Hansen, Adam Bartley, Julieta Zylberberg, Rocío Hernández, Kiah McKirnan, Beth Lacke, Stephen Louis Grush, and Cass Buggé co-star. The series was shot in Illinois, United States, and Jujuy Province, Argentina.

<i>Sam & Kate</i> 2022 film by Darren Le Gallo

Sam & Kate is a 2022 American comedy film written and directed by Darren Le Gallo, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Sissy Spacek, Jake Hoffman and Schuyler Fisk. It is Le Gallo's feature-film directorial debut, and his wife, Amy Adams, served as an executive producer. Hoffman's real son and Spacek's real daughter play these roles in the film.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tuck Everlasting". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  2. ↑ "Tuck Everlasting". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  3. ↑ Saab, Hannah; Kosmala, Karina (June 9, 2023). "15 Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcoms, Ranked". Collider. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  4. ↑ "1. The Gang Gets Racist". YouTube. The Always Sunny Podcast. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  5. ↑ "Tuck Everlasting". Rotten Tomatoes .
  6. ↑ "Tuck Everlasting". Metacritic .
  7. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "Tuck Everlasting movie review (2002)". Chicago Sun-Times.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.