Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- eerie
- disorienting
- late night viewing
- conversation starter
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film intelligent, intriguing, and strongly performed, while its ambitious metaphysical turn divided audiences and could feel perplexing.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ryan Reynolds plays Gary, Gavin, and Gabriel, while Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis likewise portray linked variations of their characters across the film's chapters.
Gary's missing notes, duplicated encounters, strange sounds, and the later metaphysical revelations destabilize what counts as real.
Gary is a television actor playing a cop, and the story begins with celebrity management, publicity, filming, and insider Hollywood satire.
The plot's mysteries ultimately invoke God, theology, and the possibility that ordinary people occupy a larger cosmic system.
Films like The Nines, and why
The Truman Show
metaphysical mystery, shifting identities, and reality-bending psychological tension
Being John Malkovich
layered realities, existential questions, and an unreliable perception of ordinary life
Mulholland Drive
surreal identity games, ontological uncertainty, and psychologically disorienting atmosphere
Dark City
reality instability, spiritual speculation, and a puzzle-box narrative structure
Movie Details
- Director
- John August
- Release Date
- 2007-01-21
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 6.0 / 10 (489)
Cast
- Ryan Reynolds
- Melissa McCarthy
- Hope Davis
- Elle Fanning
- David Denman
- Octavia Spencer
- Ben Falcone
- Dahlia Salem
- John Gatins
- Lorene Scafaria
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- fuboTV, Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel, Howdy Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Nines about?
- A troubled television actor’s forced sobriety becomes a disorienting journey through fractured identity, hidden realities, and cosmic self-discovery.
- What is The Nines like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Nines as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is The Nines violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Nines as mild.
- What did critics think of The Nines?
- Critics broadly found the film intelligent, intriguing, and strongly performed, while its ambitious metaphysical turn divided audiences and could feel perplexing.
- Which films are like The Nines?
- Films with a similar feel include The Truman Show, Being John Malkovich, Mulholland Drive, and Dark City.
- How long is The Nines?
- The Nines runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Nines?
- In United States, The Nines streams on fuboTV, Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel, Howdy Amazon Channel.
