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Jan. 26 (UPI) -- While some critics say actress Christina Ricci "kills it" as Lizzie Borden in Lifetime's made-for-TV-movie "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax," others found her turn as a cold-blooded killer to be "a whack and a miss." The film debuted Saturday, starring Ricci as the titular character, Clea DuVall as her sister and Billy Campbell as her lawyer.
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Reviews were mixed about the film and story that even children sing about in the school yard.
Rotten Tomatoes users gave the film a slightly above-average rating at 60 percent, and IMDB users were slightly more impressed with an average 6.7 out of 10-star rating.
Washington Post critic Hank Stuever wasn't a fan of the "disappointing" film, taking particular aim at Ricci's acting chops.
"Ricci gives a merely serviceable performance here, almost as if she’s dividing her total paycheck by the number of sneers and whacks she has to give — and not giving one whack more than 41," he wrote.
Christina Ricci (w/ those crazy-eyes) whacks away (and phones it in) tonight on #LizzieBorden. My review: http://t.co/MUDpbEKVeK
Advertisement— Hank Stuever (@hankstuever) January 25, 2014Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara called the flick an "eye-roller," and the New York Daily News' David Hinckley gave it only two out of five stars.
But HollywoodLife.com's Andy Swift thought "Lizzie" was "everything we hoped it would be," and said it, combined with Lifetime's updated version of "Flowers in the Attic," which premiered the week before, has the network "owning 2014."
[Lifetime] [Rotten Tomatoes] [IMDB] [Washington Post] [Los Angeles Times] [New York Daily News] [HollywoodLife.com]
