Bowling for Columbine
United Artists | Release Date: October 11, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Documentary reaches an exalted level of filmmaking. It explains the very fabric of American society. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Moore's best movie, and one of the most blisteringly effective polemics and documentaries ever. Read full review
100
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This volcanically funny and seriously scary look at America's obsession with guns is meant to shake us up good. And it does. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
Rambunctious, disturbing, often hilarious new documentary. Read full review
90
VarietyLisa Nesselson
The sparks fly thanks to Moore's patented blend of curveball research, expedient juxtaposition, genuine satire and bottomless chutzpah. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Imperfect as it may be, Bowling for Columbine is riveting stuff. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Both hilarious and sorrowful. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Moore's roving essay feels even more urgent now than it did when the jury had to make up an award to honor it at the Cannes film festival in May. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
That broad range of subject matter is indicative of the messy, meandering structure of the movie. But if Moore fails to tie this unwieldy movie into a lucid thesis, at least every tangent he chases down has its own payoff. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Impressively reframes the gun-control debate in terms that advocates of both sides might find fruitful, but Moore doesn't do anything to shed his reputation as a snot. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
When he follows his nose -- say, by tracing his own connections to Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters -- he implicates himself in what he hates and fears, and he emerges as a wounded patriot searching for a small measure of clarity. [28 October 2002, p. 119]
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Often uproariously funny, even though much of its queasy power comes from its acknowledgment that some matters are too horrifying to be washed away with cheap laughter, or packaged into soundbites. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
At its best, the movie powerfully indicts our violent history. A montage of bloody U.S. interventions in foreign affairs over the last half-century, most overthrowing elected governments we didn't like, left me shaken. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Moore brilliantly unmasks the inanity of the arguments used in the debate over gun control in America. He then undermines himself by leaping into the blame game without supporting his central thesis, that the media is what makes teens like the ones at Columbine turn around and shoot up their schools. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Moore continues another one infinitely more valuable -- the proud line that extends right back to Mark Twain, embracing all those satirists so enamoured with America at its best that they won't stand silent for America at its worst. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Irreverent, provocative and provoking. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Moore turns the camera on himself too often for comfort, but he provides an eye-opening array of facts and revelations. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Even Moore's target ticket-buyers are likely to squirm with concern, unsure of who the real weasels and idiots are in this large, unkempt, rambunctious country of ours. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Moore's concern about issues is genuine, and his showboating technique is often entertaining. But he is not the most organized person in the world, and there is a scattershot randomness about this film that is both its essence and a source of frustration. Read full review
70
Film ThreatMark A. Altman
It’s a welcome addition to the national debate, which while not always on the money, is consistently thoughtful, smart and thoroughly satisfying. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Disturbing, infuriating and often very funny film. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Moore's best film to date is this comic and grimly entertaining reflection on America's gun craziness and why we kill one another. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It does get K-Mart to pull handgun and assault ammunition from their shelves after two Columbine survivors show up at corporate headquarters with Moore's camera crew in tow and bullets bought for 13 cents apiece at a K-Mart store still embedded in their bodies. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Fun and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Moore provides a rather rambling discourse of causality, which includes racism, white flight and Africanized bees. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
Something appalling about the way he turns to the camera with a look of sorrow: Michael Moore as a suffering Christ. It's an insult to his own movie, which at its considerable best transcends his thuggish personality. Read full review
60
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The only thing wrong with Bowling for Columbine is Moore himself. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's vintage Moore: on one level the courageous act of a gutsy journalist, and, on another, a callously unfair and self-serving spectacle that makes Moore seem like a big bully, and puts his audience into the position of a vigilante mob. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Shallow and one-sided. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
It's poorly structured, a half-hour too long, and devotedly fixated on the filmmaker's persona. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Where Bowling for Columbine is at its most valuable is in its examination of America's culture of fear as a root cause of gun violence. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
It seems to have been made to delight European intellectuals and anyone else who believes that America is a land of bloodthirsty yet comical barbarians. Read full review
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