Referred to by many as "the greatest novel ever written," the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic period drama, "Anna Karenina," has a lot to live up to. With a star-studded cast, as well as an Oscar-award-winning director and writer, producers are clearly hedging their bets. As the film hits theaters today Nov. 16, though, the film looks to be splitting critics virtually down the middle.

With a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 65 percent, critics look to be polarized by director Joe Wright's highly anticipated film adaptation of Tolstoy's novel.

"The leading man preens and puffs himself up but never gives us reason to empathize with him," said critic Leonard Maltin.

"Without Tolsoy's profound interior narration, Anna Karenina is just a soap opera, and for some reason director Joe Wright has decided to compound this problem with deliberate, showy artifice," said The Chicago Reader.

But not everyone thought the film was all style and no substance.

"Fans of Wright's "Pride & Prejudice" may not be quite as enthralled with this production, but there is no denying: 'Anna Karenina' is a lavish and satisfying spectacle," said Kaplan vs. Kaplan.

"Wright's 'Anna Karenina' sings, dances and finally soars, even as its legendary heroine plunges to her most self-destructive depths," said The Washington Post.

"Anna Karenina" is the third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with acclaimed director Wright, following the award-winning box office successes "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement." The book was adapted into a screenplay by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard.

"Anna Karenina" tells the story of the tragedy of married aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. "The story powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart. As Anna (Ms. Knightley) questions her happiness and marriage, change comes to all around her," says Focus Features.

"Anna Karenina" has the kind of enduring legacy in literature most only dream of. Legendary author Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be a "flawless as a work of art". Similarly, Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov loved the book, and especially admired "the flawless magic of Tolstoy's style."

The book's charms weren't lost on Americans, either. "As I Lay Dying" author William Faulkner described the novel as "the best ever written." A sentiment echoed in a poll of the top 10 books ever written in 2007 in Time magazine that also declared Tolstoy's book the "greatest novel ever written."

"Anna Karenina" also stars Emily Watson, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen, Olivia Williams, and Alicia Vikander. "Anna Karenina" is in theaters now.