Search: Starring Adam Goldberg

In the first part of the film, the script zips along with plenty of laughs but the biggest problem is that the characters, in particular Marion, become increasingly difficult to like.

Russell Crowe carries the can and he does so with honour and the can becomes a trophy, richly deserved.

This is an ensemble triumph, somehow made all the more amiable by its general lack of earth-shattering incident.

The incomparable Denzel Washington gives another of his thoughtful, sensitive performances that carries a surplus of the dignity gene.

None of the characters are interesting. They slip into stereotype and stay there, grinning.

Crowe is in his element here.

The script isn't witty enough, hitting the buttons by numbers.

Spielberg is a consummate filmmaker, consistently surpassing himself, stretching his imaginative and technical abilities beyond what he knows, or has done before.

There are moments when it treads dangerously close to pretension and self-importance, but the dream-like feel of the whole thing brings it down to earth.