Swinton ... is for once deglamorized into an ordinary woman enlarged by extraordinary circumstances, and the role animates her wonderfully.

For the most part ... the filmmakers and performers invest a high level of intelligence and sympathy into The Deep End.

A rather dull movie, weighed down by its pretensions.

One of the great things about films like this is that it understands the circumstances it puts its unlikely heroine in are outlandish and yet rooted in deep truth and realistic actions by its characters.