The Devil's Violinist

Beautiful and thoughtful.

Though his dramatic performance is somewhat too mild, classical-pop violinist David Garrett brings an electrifying musical authenticity to the lead role in "The Devil's Violinist."

Even if, like me, you're a sucker for men with tossable hair and precision eyeliner, you can't help noticing that "The Devil's Violinist" is hysterical - and possibly historical - hooey.

Garrett, making his acting debut, isn't a strong enough presence to carry the nonmusical sequences.

David Garrett's musical gifts far outstrip his acting chops in Bernard Rose's creaky 19th-century melodrama.

[Garrett's] handsome and fiddles something fierce, but his acting aptitude is more "Chopsticks" than Caprice no. 24 in A minor.

Violin prodigy and classical crossover artist David Garrett can certainly play. Acting is a little iffier.

Potentially there is a portrait of the artist in crisis buried beneath all the histrionics and parables. As it is, The Devil's Violinist is simply tone deaf.

Florid, hysterical (though far from historical) pseudo-biographical movie about the famous violinist [Paganini].

A hilariously histrionic depiction of 19th-century superstar violinist Niccolò Paganini's rise to fame, far more Monty Python than Mozart.

The latest classical-music legend to have his life trashed-again-by a cheaply sensationalistic movie, this famed fiddler deserved way better.