This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

66% Tomatometer 88 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings

At 50 years of age, former rock star Cheyenne (Sean Penn) still dresses the part and lives in Ireland off the royalties and dividends from smart investments. The death of his estranged father brings Cheyenne back to New York, where he discovers the old man had one obsession: to hunt down a Nazi war criminal (Heinz Lieven). Cheyenne decides to pick up the quest where his late father left off, and sets out at his own pace on a journey across America.

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This Must Be the Place

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Critics Consensus

This Must Be the Place may feature too many wayward detours to satisfy some passengers, but Sean Penn's beguiling performance and Paolo Sorrentino's scenic visuals make this a road trip worth following.

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Critics Reviews

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This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Nicolas Rapold Film Comment Magazine The conceit of showing a pop-culture figure's life out of the limelight is beyond hackneyed, but the film's incongruous visual splendor and Penn's all-or-nothing commitment keep Sorrentino's unabashed folly afloat for a while. Jun 28, 2013 Full Review This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Scott Foundas Film Comment Magazine Sorrentino's aggressively life-affirming movie has wormed its way into the hearts of a surprising number of usually sensible, discerning critics. Jun 20, 2013 Full Review This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Joe Williams St. Louis Post-Dispatch Penn has created a colorful tour guide, but in "This Must Be the Place," there's no there there. Rated: 2.5/4 Nov 21, 2012 Full Review This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Yasser Medina Cinefilia Penn's performance as the rockstar offers slight moments of eccentricity, but his road trip turns dull and loses substance when it stops to interrogate the platitudes of loneliness, old age, and the need for self-discovery. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/10 Jun 27, 2023 Full Review This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Diego Batlle Otroscines.com In tragicomic and pompous tone, Sorrentino once again gloats over the pathos of his characters. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5.5/10 Oct 4, 2022 Full Review This Must Be the Place | Rotten Tomatoes (6) PJ Nabarro Patrick Nabarro It elicits a form of emotional rapture that is either the story's themes subtly catching up on the viewer or Sorrentino's shamanistic direction papering over the film's cracks Rated: 3/5 Apr 27, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Bill W This was slow and unbearable. I tried to force myself to watch it but gave up halfway through. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/13/24 Full Review Craig H I just stumbled across this "Sean Penn" movie and of course, watched it, and man am I glad I did. The part Sean plays is right up there with his best. Watch it, I think you'll like it Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/07/24 Full Review isla s This is a very quirky film, with an oddball as the main character (known as Cheyenne). He is very guarded and quiet, as unlikely as that may seem given his outwardly extrovert appearance but I liked how he seemed to open up, slowly, to particular people. When he talks, he has an almost spooky or ghoulish muted tone to his voice, which of course is in contrast, as I say, to his goth rock look.He is quite philosophical in the way he views situations he comes across, everyday or not. There is some very poignant dialogue and I loved the cinematography present, with some beautiful sunset shots. Music wise, there is quite nomadic/quiet (low tempo) folk type music played in the background at times. It'd be fair to say that Sean Penn has played some quite challenging characters in his career to date and this is very much one of them - most certainly not your overly represented average joe type persona. Of course thats no bad thing and I commend him for playing different roles. To start with, this seemed, if anything, too bizarre a film, with no obvious/clear plot direction and I couldn't help but wonder what the point was in what I was watching but as Cheyenne starts to uncover truths and embarks on his journey, it became more decidedly more meaningful. Its not the sort of film thats especially easy to understand/'get' entirely but I certainly enjoyed aspects of it and I feel it was a very quirky and arty film that is worth a watch. I admired it, even though its not at all perfect as such, its certainly a solid and different kind of a film - one I'd recommend. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I can understand the apprehension of some: this isn't the fast-paced extrovert of a movie most Americans are used to being spoon fed--but I think too many have been blind to the rewards of going along (on this albeit relatively far-fetched road trip) with an open mind and let the movie show itself to you on its own terms rather than judge it harshly for not wowing you on yours. Penn's performance is discernibly restrained, still yielding some remarkable moments. Another review began by calling this movie "Meandering and episodic" as if disappointed to realize that's exactly the point. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member There were deeper aspects of this that totally worked for me even if the framework or overall concept felt somewhat convoluted at times. This film, with me thinking the title was simply a coincidence, heavily featured a favorite song by a favorite band. David Byrne was also the composer and had a decent bit part appearing as himself.I always get a kick when I realize two seemingly unconnected authors or artists that I deeply appreciate, in this case Sorrentino and Byrne, appear to share the same respect for each other.Really debated between a 3* or 3.5* here but David Byrne will usually give anything a bump for me. 6.5/10 Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Absolutely incredible. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Paolo Sorrentino Director Sean Penn Cheyenne Frances McDormand Jane Judd Hirsch Mordecai Midler Eve Hewson Mary Kerry Condon Rachel
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Synopsis At 50 years of age, former rock star Cheyenne (Sean Penn) still dresses the part and lives in Ireland off the royalties and dividends from smart investments. The death of his estranged father brings Cheyenne back to New York, where he discovers the old man had one obsession: to hunt down a Nazi war criminal (Heinz Lieven). Cheyenne decides to pick up the quest where his late father left off, and sets out at his own pace on a journey across America.

Director
Paolo Sorrentino

Producer
Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Andrea Occhipinti

Screenwriter
Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello

Distributor
Weinstein Co.

Production Co
Lucky Red, Medusa Film, Indigo Films

Rating
R (Language|Brief Disturbing Images|Some Sexual Content)

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 2, 2012, Limited

Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 13, 2014

Box Office (Gross USA)
$142.2K

Runtime
1h 58m
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