Gun Hill Road
Motion Film Group | Release Date: August 5, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireEric KohnAug 1, 2011
Santana was cast prior to making her gender transition and had never acted before. Her personal experience brings such legitimacy that she would probably succeed in the role even if she sucked at line reading. Fortunately, she doesn't. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisSep 15, 2011
This is the first movie to make me equate coming home from prison with coming home from war. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisAug 11, 2011
Manages somehow to be gritty, delicate, in your face and nuanced at the same time. It's a beautiful, compelling, sometimes harrowing family drama, with excellent performances across the board. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 13, 2011
The quietly commanding turn by newcomer Santana - whose outward embrace of an already well-internalized transformation leaps off the screen with equal parts joy, melancholia and bravery - is a standout. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 5, 2011
Without pushing too heavily, Green makes the parallels between Enrique and Michael's situations genuine. Read full review
60
Village VoiceNick SchagerAug 2, 2011
Though two late plot developments are borderline-contrived, Green's direction is marked by mature dramatic and aesthetic understatement. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithAug 5, 2011
Tenderness and good intentions don't necessarily add up to a movie. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 4, 2011
A strangely bifurcated film, Gun Hill Road comes to life only when focused on Michael, and Ms. Santana (who was just beginning her own gender transition when she won the role) holds the screen like a pro. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedAug 2, 2011
Gun Hill Road is worth seeing for the acting. The great character actress Miriam Colon makes a brief but memorable appearance as the strong matriarch of the household, and Ms. Santana, a true transgendered teen who has never acted before, is especially wrenching. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerAug 1, 2011
Of the film's three principals, it's only teenage Michael--more than ably embodied by screen newcomer Harmony Santana--that writer-director Rashaad Ernesto Green seems to have much of a feel for. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttAug 1, 2011
Green has chosen for his focus to fall on Enrique, in many ways the least interesting character in his story, rather than the son or even the mother who is surprisingly protective and understanding. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis HarveyAug 1, 2011
Earnest and well cast, but less involving than it should be. Read full review
40
Time OutEric HynesAug 2, 2011
Yet even with the rich, inherently cinematic texture of the urban setting and two excellent native outer-borough actors in Morales and Reyes, Gun Hill Road falters thanks to its paint-by-numbers storytelling. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazinePam GradyAug 2, 2011
The melodrama is tiresome, overwrought and clichéd. Read full review
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