Lords of Dogtown
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: June 3, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
16
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Lords of Dogtown is a docudrama, rare in its grit and authenticity, that also strives for the mythical youth-rebel excitement of something like "8 Mile." Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
From start to finish, is pretty much a blast. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
As beautifully structured as one of the Z-Boys' graceful and intricate maneuvers. It is economic yet possesses depth and is visually striking, capturing an idea of what life is like in a very fast lane. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Works best when it seems like it's not working at all. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Hardwicke whips up a frenzy of crazy-cool board action, with Alva choreographing the stunts. Even when the slippery-slope-of-success cliches halt the film's momentum, the ready-to-rock actors rev it up again. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
The skating scenes are their own reward: It's hard to think of a movie since 1950's "Sunset Boulevard" that has gotten more dramatic impact out of a pool. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie is like a daydream, and it's most infectious when the characters are in motion or misbehaving, which is often. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Peralta uses the creative liberties of fiction to focus on the one thing he couldn't convey in his historical record -- the sense of tribalism among skateboarders, who live by a code that most law-abiding citizens misunderstand for hooliganism. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Though the fiction doesn't quite equal the documentary in razzle-dazzle impact, it's a credible, handsome and engaging entertainment. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
There are times when even a director's worst impulses aren't enough to sink a movie, and somehow Lords of Dogtown stays afloat, largely because many of its actors transcend Hardwicke's heavy-handed storytelling. Read full review
70
NewsweekDevin Gordon
It's one of those juicy stories that have the added virtue of being true. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
An excellent documentary equal parts extreme sports and social anthropology. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The film doesn't hold together in any compelling way. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
The story meanders from competition to competition (up the ramps, down the ramps) and seems like it could end at any point. The characters are similarly underdeveloped. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Nearly everything fresh and exciting about the 2002 documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys" - the story of the Santa Monica-Ocean Park-Venice area misfits who revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s - becomes studied and secondhand in The Lords of Dogtown. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
So the questions arises: Why bother watching the contrived fiction when the eye-popping fact is readily available? Answer: Why, indeed. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Takes a surprisingly gritty approach that gives the material some gravitas but also robs it of some of its fun. Read full review
60
Village VoiceEd Halter
Hardwicke's pop-Cassavetes melodrama nevertheless rides as smoothly as a big-budget after-school special, capturing youth struggles from an appropriately blown-out teen's-eye perspective. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
It's no surprise that when it ultimately tries to pluck at the heartstrings, it rings hollow. The film lives and dies by speed. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
After trying to prove himself a serious actor in deadly dull movies, Ledger lightens up and brightens up a movie that attempts the trick of bringing a new spin to an old story but can't pull off the stunt. Read full review
60
EmpireAlan Morrison
A hanging-out movie that’s as close as you’ll ever get to soaking up the time, the place and the attitude. Too slack for mainstream audiences, though. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Inept storytelling is one of Lords of Dogtown's great frustrations. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
It's a wipeout once the pic skids into melodrama and an overly schematic sense of how success tore the group apart. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Unfortunately, whenever Ledger isn't onscreen, Lords of Dogtown takes a spill. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Too much of Lords of Dogtown still feels conventional and sugar-coated. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Lords of Dogtown isn't a cop-out, but rather an ever-so-slight concession to commercialism. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
The look and feel here is classic Hardwicke: gritty and dark, so as to fool you into thinking this film is serious business. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The skating photography is excellent and, like the documentary's soundtrack, songs from the Stooges, Blue Oyster Cult and the Weirdos set the proper mood. But this dramatization does nothing Peralta's documentary didn't do better. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The new film, superficial and chaotic, delivers a rough sense of place, a reasonable number of skateboard thrills and very little character development or story. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Although Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Lords of Dogtown, has a good sense for the period and does what she can with her actors, we've seen the originals, and these aren't the originals. Read full review
50
PremiereKevin Allison
Lords of Dogtown may pop for the skateboarding crowd. It fizzles for the rest. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
If Lords of Dogtown accomplishes nothing else, it shows how hard writing a fiction film can be, and what a vast artistic distance can stand between a bad fiction film and the first-rate documentary that inspired it.
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A tormented dramatization of the exact same events, and it's as bad as the earlier film ("Dogtown and Z-Boys") was good. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Excruciatingly narcissistic. Read full review
20
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Has all the energy and spontaneity of a bowl of waxed fruit. If watching "Dogtown and Z-Boys" was tantamount to witnessing history itself, watching "Lords of Dogtown," which Peralta wrote, feels more like watching a stiff, meticulously choreographed reenactment. Read full review
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