Skins
First Look International | Release Date: September 27, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
To see this movie is to understand why the faces on Mount Rushmore are so painful and galling to the first Americans. The movie's final image is haunting. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
This first generation of Native American movie directors has already managed to make great strides: While prodding the collective conscience of the U.S. mainstream with their disturbing views of the reservation, they have also opened the door to a vibrant spirit world unknown to all but a few. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A wrenching, uncompromisingly bleak film, but its stars, who include talented newcomer Noah Watts as Mogie's son and Lois Red Elk as the brothers' staunch aunt, fill the screen with warmth, humor and spiritual yearning in the face of hardship and tragedy. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Has a desolate air, but Eyre, a Native American raised by white parents, manages to infuse the rocky path to sibling reconciliation with flashes of warmth and gentle humor. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
This is a film about anger, shame and helplessness, and it offers no answers, merely hard questions and angry challenges. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDave Kehr
Might have been better off as a documentary, with less of Mr. Eyre's uninspired dramatics and more of his sense of observation and outrage. Read full review
40
VarietyDavid Rooney
Has a patched-together feel, and its aims as human drama, social documentary and vigilante movie are never quite reconciled. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
As coherent storytelling, Skins isn't that tightly wrapped, but as an excoriating look at the plight of the modern American Indian, it bites hard. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderBill Stamets
Greene delivers a wrenching performance, and like "Smoke Signals," the film ends with a cathartic, triumphant flourish. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The story gets off to a slow start after its riveting documentary-style introduction, but heartfelt acting and unexpected plot twists eventually give it solid dramatic impact. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Eyre offers a merciless, affecting portrait of reservation life, but his relevant themes eventually wash away in a sea of unnecessary sentimentality. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Its strength is the documentary-textured depiction of Native Americans in their social environment. Its weakness is a story that's a patchy combination of soap opera, low-tech magic realism and, at times, ploddingly sociological commentary. Read full review
20
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
Good intentions or not, ineptitude and cloying sentimentality don't do anybody any favors. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Graham Greene ("Dances With Wolves") in one of the year's best performances, he's a fully dimensional character: pathetic and shrewd, tragic and bitterly funny. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
The sharpness of Eyre's opening, however, ebbs away when he takes up the story of Rudy (Eric Schweig) and Mogie (Graham Greene), two brothers with neatly opposed responses to the reservation grind. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Maybe the redemptions offered are simplistic in the context of this place, but they make for a dramatic (if heavily foreshadowed) conclusion. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Dark as it is, the humor makes it work, especially Greene's typically witty and compassionate portrayal of Mogie. Read full review
30
Film ThreatAnthony Miele
The supporting characters suffer from excruciating one dimensionality since none of them really have anything to do but look forlorn and opine about days past. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Serious stuff indeed, but the film is also rich with humor -- most of it courtesy of the always-excellent Greene -- and ends with an act of vandalism as shocking as it is exhilarating. Read full review
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