Movie Reviews: Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum Shine in 'Side Effects'

Editor's Note: All reviews and information aggregated from Moviefone andRottenTomatoes.

Want to catch a movie this weekend? Here is Patch's roundup of movies playing at the three theaters in the south metro: Burnsville's Paragon Odyssey 15, Marcus Rosemount Cinema, Apple Valley’s Carmike Cinema and Great Clips IMAX Theatre at the Minnesota Zoo.

New this weekend:

Side Effects

One sentence plot: Steven Soderbergh reteams with his Contagion screenwriter Scott Z. Burns for this psychological thriller starring Rooney Mara as a woman who turns to drugs in order to deal with her husband (Channing Tatum) being released from jail.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 97

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 84

Reviews:

"The baseline mystery of Steven Soderbergh’s masterful Hitchcockian thriller 'Side Effects' is 'What’s really going on here?' The film keeps viewers emotionally invested yet intellectually off-balance, suffusing even the most ostensibly straightforward scenes with a sense of free-floating anxiety. It pays off with edge-of-the-seat chills, walloping surprises and an uncanny ability to make complex plotting digestible. Star Tribune, Full Review

"Ultimately, think of the movie as a puzzle box in which all the pieces fit together wonderfully well. Once you step back and take a look at how it’s all put together, you have to marvel at how cleverly constructed the whole thing is." Arizona Republic, Full Review

"Like Magic Mike, Side Effects is enlivened by Soderbergh's jazzy style and laidback moralism, bringing to mind the work of another connoisseur of genre, Robert Altman." Slant Magazine, Full Review

"Side Effects is mostly a good Saturday-night movie, but by the end, it's caused a few unintended side effects of its own: a bit of head-scratching, and a giggle or two of disbelief." Entertainment Weekly, Full Review

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Identity Thief

One sentence plot: Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy lead the cast of 'Identity Thief', an all-star comedy in which a regular guy is forced to extreme measures to clear his name.

Rotten Tomatoes viewer score: 97

Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 29

Reviews:

"I was about to describe this Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy vehicle as a dismal new comedy, but that’s not accurate. There is not a premise, character, situation or theme in this crass film that is in any way new. At best it’s perversely interesting as a major misstep for both stars." Star Tribune, Full Review 

"The only thing Identity Thief steals is your time and your expectation of inventive comedy. The concept may be high, but the yield (in terms of laughs) is depressingly low." Huffington Post, Full review

"Gordon is lost, and his style of shooting - telescopic close-ups, which never give us enough space to appreciate the performers - feels wrong for comedy." Chicago Tribune, Full Review

"Of the many qualities I adore about Melissa McCarthy as a comedian and as a dramatic actor, the best is how fully she gives herself to every character she plays." Entertainment Weekly, Full Review