StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

MBunge This is a strange little accident of a movie. Shelter Island is a complete and utter failure at being a thriller. Yet it still manages to generate a perverse watchability when it dwells on the sexual politics of lesbianism.Louise "Lou" Delamere (Ally Sheedy) is a champion pro golfer and motivational speaker living the good life in New York City with her live-in girlfriend Alex (Patsy Kensit). After Lou is attacked by a man in the street, seemingly at random, Alex decides to take her recovering lover out to their new weekend home on the resort community of Shelter Island. After a brief encounter with the cluelessly sleazy local sheriff (Chris Penn), Lou and Alex make it out to their gigantic house just as Alex's friend Carly (Mimi Langeland) finishes getting it ready for them. After a bad storm rolls in and knocks out the power, Lou and Alex find a battered stranger at their door. Lenny (Stephen Baldwin) claims to be a clammer caught up in the storm and becomes an overnight guest who greatly bothers Alex and forges an odd relationship with Lou. It's like a homoerotic vibe, but between a man and a gay woman. When morning comes, it's like the film suddenly remembers it's supposed to be a thriller and bad stuff happens and people are not who we thought they were, leading to an ending that labors mightily in the pursuit of clever but only succeeds in being labored.Judged as a thriller, Shelter Island is darn near a fiasco. For the first 60 minutes of the movie, there's virtually no tension or suspense or excitement of any kind. It's like some sort of constipated lesbian romance, and I don't mean a romance involving constipated lesbians. Then the violence and threat kick in out of nowhere, ushering in a horde of stupid and nonsensical crap that runs wild through the movie like Mongols after a turkey dinner. There's even a scene that absolutely defies explanation, like a magic trick gone horribly, horribly wrong.But since the film is only 82 minutes long, all that stuff, as bad as it is, goes by quickly enough that you can't really dwell on it. What you do notice is the interesting dynamic that the film develops, where Lou can't stand the feminine cattiness of Alex's friend Carly but is intrigued by the blunt masculinity of Lenny. Lou is a pro athlete and has a certain machismo. However, she lives in a world that doesn't engage her on that level and when she finds it in Lenny, she can't deny the appeal. Somewhere in the depths of this script is the outline of one of those overly serious indy movies about the fluid nature of modern relationships, bobbing its head above water every so often to cry for help.There's also some female nudity in Shelter Island, most of it done by body doubles. But someone impersonating someone else's naked body is still naked. Rest assured, though, when you see Stephen Baldwin's ass on screen, it's the real deal.I can't recommend a film that misfires so badly at what it's trying to do. Nevertheless, I kinda liked it. Take that for all it's worth.

Stefan Pankov Okay fine to be honest it is TERRIBLE. Cheap story that you would expect a grade 4 to write better. basically what happens is: 2 Women (Lesbians) go to a island to have a little vacation. they 1 night find a man knocking at the door and he falls in. They keep him for around 2 days, 1 of the women find him to be unsafe. but shes actually the one who works with him. She hired him to kill the other woman to take her money. But he didn't manage she came back to the house to try and rescue the other woman (the evil) because she thought she was being attacked. She beats him up. Then the bad woman kills the one that was supposed to die. Okay that's basically what happened. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME ON THIS.. NOT WORTH IT.

jimbobnick I might have a partial spoiler here, but maybe not.What's the matter with Ally Sheedy, taking a role like this? The movie's plot and ending would do well in an 11th grade creative class, but gee, we paid money to see this. It's impossible for anything like this movie to happen. In a crime scene, the same gun was used on every person in the room, which would make forensics people lick their chops.I've always liked AS, but she must have a lousy agent. She's a pretty good actress, and needs to be tested a bit. The Dancer Upstairs was okay, but another mediocre writer ruled.I felt duped, and to call this movie a thriller was mislabeled.2 out of ten.

rosscinema It would be easy to say that this low budget thriller just doesn't work and then point out the obvious flaws but I think it's incredibly sad to watch any actor that is even remotely well known appearing in something so idiotic. Story is about two lesbians that go to their home on Shelter Island to get away from their hectic lives and spend some time alone. Louise Delamere (Ally Sheedy) is a motivational speaker and former pro golfer and while jogging one day is savagely attacked and beaten by an unknown assailant and her girlfriend Alex (Patsy Kensit) is the one that urged her to take time off and heal. *****SPOILER ALERT*****Once they arrive on Shelter Island they run into Sheriff Deluca (Chris Penn) who warns them of an approaching storm. That night during the storm they find an unknown man on their doorstep unconscious and they take him in. He awakens and tells them his name is Lenny (Stephen Baldwin) and he immediately starts to act weird. Once the storm passes they have a difficult time getting rid of him and then to Louise's horror she discovers that Lenny was the one that attacked her before!This film is directed by Geoffrey Schaaf who seems tailored made for those late night Skin-amax flicks that usually star Shannon Tweed but somehow he managed to get some well known actors. This horribly made un-thriller is so bad that it doesn't even work as one of those "It's so bad it's good" films and every male character gives new meaning to the word Neanderthal. When Penn is first introduced in the story he starts to meander and mutter about "being good on the eyes" and then starts to really babble like an idiot. Baldwin is always irritating no matter what he's in and he's astonishingly primitive here and after talking with Sheedy's character he asks her to arm wrestle! Even though he must outweigh her by 150lbs she beats him and in more than one scene she gets the best of him. Every nude scene with Sheedy and Kensit is with body doubles that look nothing like either one of them so if you had the idea of maybe viewing any of these two naked your out of luck. Sheedy's career had hit a high note in 1998 with the fascinating "High Art" and I thought she deserved an Oscar nod for her tough performance but ever since then she has slowly slid back down to crap like this. I can't describe how painfully sad it is to watch a good talented actress like Sheedy having to work in an utter abortion like this. This film fails on every single level and isn't worth anyone's time.