Down in the Valley
THINKFilm | Release Date: May 5, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesMark Olsen
For a film that has allegedly undergone extensive tinkering following its premiere at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Down in the Valley abounds in nagging loose ends and suffers overall from logy pacing. Read full review
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
What keeps us watching? Chiefly it is Edward Norton's performance as Harlan. It is hard to doubt his belief in everything he says, no matter how silly or dangerous it sounds. Read full review
60
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
An original and utterly unconventional tragedy of fantasy and reality, and the potential lethal results of worlds colliding. Ed, glad to have you back. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The film is thrown off balance by the weight of Norton's compassion for this troubled soul. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Edward Norton serves as lead actor and producer, but even his star power won't help this misfire reach a wide domestic audience. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRob Nelson
Like "Don't Come Knocking," this contrived lament for the lonesome cowboy means to measure what remains of the old western in the absence of the Old West, eventually plopping its displaced ranch hand protagonist onto the fake Main Street of an old western movie set just to make sure we don't miss any of the cine-mythic connotations. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Sucker-punches you. It appears to be an engagingly sweet romance, but it's really just about other movies. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The movie turns into something strange and annoying, an attempted blend of a suburban thriller with an Old West shoot-'em-up. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
While Jacobson navigates the first half of Down in the Valley deftly, he loses his way in the second. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As long as Norton plays Harlan as a modern-day Joe Buck, a kind of four-in-the-afternoon cowboy, we're drawn by his waltz of innocence and vagueness. But Down in the Valley turns out to be one of those films with a thick, gummy overlay of Western ''mythology.'' Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Both actors work hard to give this disturbing crime story some flavor and substance, but the narrative is overextended and poorly organized. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
In the end, it's really just a thriller, slower than most, with pockets of dead time but with a few extra flourishes, too, thanks to Norton. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
It feels mechanical, more conceptual than realized, like a senior project by a particularly ambitious student who's recently read "West of Everything" – and who's lucked into working with a world-class actor. Read full review
40
EmpireIan Nathan
Never has the term 'American Independent' so obviously been code for 'wholly miserable experience'. Read full review
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