The Net (1995)
54%RT Audience Score: 44%
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins
The premise isn’t without potential and Sandra Bullock is as likable as ever, but The Net lacks sufficient thrills — or plausible plot points — to recommend catching
The Net” is a thriller that’s as outdated as dial-up internet. While it may have been suspenseful in the ’90s, it’s now more of a comedy than anything else. The plot is full of coincidences and implausibilities that would make even Hitchcock roll his eyes. Sandra Bullock does her best as the spunky protagonist, but even she can’t save this movie from being a snooze-fest. The moral of the story is to live your life offline, but let’s be real, who’s doing that in 2021? Stick to streaming something more current and skip “The Net.
Production Company(ies)
Mosfilm Tvorcheskoe Obedinienie Pisateley i Kinorabotnikov
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
1200 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and brief strong language
Year of Release
1995
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby SR
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Sep 19, 2000
Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller
Keyword(s)
starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, Dennis Miller, Diane Baker, Wendy Gazelle, Ken Howard, directed by Irwin Winkler, written by John D Brancato, Michael Ferris, mystery, thriller, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Tom Ryan, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Caryn James, Mick LaSalle, Ian Nathan, Margaret A McGurk, Brandon Collins, Justin Brown, Mike Massie, Barbara Shulgasser, PG-13, computer programmer, freelance gig, colleagues dying, mysterious disc, Mexico, conspiracy, identity erased, computer skills, assassins, police, computer paranoia, high-tech, spiraling nightmares, wrongly accused innocent, nerve-wracking, Hollywood potboiler, sneaky takes, global concatenation, scary, paranoid fantasy, violence, language, moral, live your life off-line
Worldwide gross: $110,627,965
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $217,534,389
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 648
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 23,722,398
US/Canada gross: $50,727,965
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $99,749,434
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 755
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,037,745
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $19,737,819
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 662
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $22,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $43,259,917
Production budget ranking: 891
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $23,295,465
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $150,979,007
ROI to date (est.): 227%
ROI ranking: 581
Jeremy Northam – Jack Devlin
Dennis Miller – Dr. Alan Champion
Diane Baker – Mrs. Bennett
Wendy Gazelle – Ruth Marx
Ken Howard – Michael Bergstrom
Irwin Winkler – Director/Producer
Rob Cowan – Producer
John D. Brancato – Writer
Michael Ferris – Writer
Director(s)
Irwin Winkler
Writer(s)
John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
Producer(s)
Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins
Academy Awards
All Critics (53) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (31)
While there’s suspense aplenty as she pits her computer skills and some old-fashioned ingenuity against the villains, Irwin Winkler’s thriller is at best perfunctory in its treatment of character.
March 17, 2021 | Rating: 1/3
Tom Ryan
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
A thriller without thrills.
January 14, 2011
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Riddled with more coincidences and implausibilities than Hitchcock permitted himself in his entire career, The Net still gets by as a reasonably suspenseful, very au courant thriller.
March 26, 2009
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The Net is never quite as sleek and chilling as it might have been, but it gives the old story of a wrongly accused innocent a nerve-wracking 90’s twist.
August 30, 2004 | Rating: 3/5
Caryn James
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
A strong enough suspense thriller, a high-tech version of one of those spiraling nightmares in which an innocent person is chased by assassins and wanted by the police.
June 18, 2002 | Rating: 3/4
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Arch contrivance is the lifeblood of the Hollywood potboiler and this is competent, eminently watchable stuff with some sneaky takes on computer paranoia.
June 6, 2001 | Rating: 3/5
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The Internet, the global concatenation of computer systems, should make a fertile premise for a good, scary, paranoid fantasy. Sad to say, The Net ain’t it.
August 19, 2021 | Rating: 1.5/4
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer
The acting was terrible, but for 115 minutes I was entertained.
November 18, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Brandon Collins
Medium Popcorn
Sandra Bullock is lucky to have a career after this…
November 18, 2020 | Rating: 1/5
Justin Brown
Medium Popcorn
Bullock makes for a sympathetic, spunky protagonist, who is fun to watch even if the plot takes a turn toward the realm of overly predictable thrillers.
September 16, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
’90s mystery-thriller is still relevant; violence, language.
August 20, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Barbara Shulgasser
Common Sense Media
The Net does build up to a decently tense climax, but its moral — live your life off-line — feels heavy-handed.
November 9, 2006 | Rating: 2.5/4
Betsy Bozdech
DVDJournal.com…
Plot
Angela Bennett is a computer expert. This young and beautiful analyst is never far from a computer and modem. The only activity she has outside of computers is visiting her mother. A friend, whom she’s only spoken to over the net and phone, Dale Hessman, sent her a program with a weird glitch for her to de-bug. That night, he left to meet her and was killed in a plane crash. Angela discovers secret information on the disk she has received only hours before she leaves for vacation. Her life then turns into a nightmare, her records are erased from existence and she is given a new identity, one with a police record. She struggles to find out why this has happened and who has it in for her.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels doesn’t have anything goofy or funny to say about The Net, but they do mention that Sandra Bullock is as likable as ever in the film.
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