Snow Angels
Warner Independent Pictures (WIP) | Release Date: March 7, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
David Gordon Green's captivating winter-chill tragedy, is a tale that encompasses murder, divorce, adultery, alcohol abuse, mental breakdown, and the disappearance of a small child. In other words, it's downbeat enough to make the recent Oscar-nominated films look like party games. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Green is a rare bird in American filmmaking: a humanist who knows how to tell a story. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
The result feels less like selling out than growing up. Read full review
90
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
With a deep understanding of his characters, Green has crafted a film that's devastating and uplifting without sounding a false note. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
All of these actors are incredibly fine, and as a confirmed Beckinsale non-fan, I'm obliged to say that she really knocked me out here. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Disturbingly good. The writing and the performances are such that as things go from bad (sad motel-room affairs) to worse (a 4-year-old gone missing), the film's characters get inside your skin, your soul. It's enough to make you want to cry. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin Chang
Emotionally harrowing and gentle by turns, this well-acted winter's tale is a more narrative-driven experience than Green's more lyrical Sundance entries, "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls." Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Few filmmakers these days are as capable and assured with the fumbling ambivalence of human conversation as Green is; his ear for the half-truths, misapprehensions, and long-simmering defensiveness of everyday dialogue is a wonder to behold. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
For all the misery and emotional mess of Snow Angels, Green finds resilience and hope in the kids and even in some of the grown-ups. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Revelatory as well as unsettling. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNathan Lee
What saves this heavy, heavy material from sinking into the chill, familiar turf of the Small-Town Midwinter Tragedy is Green's practiced ear for verbal idiosyncrasy and off-kilter conversation rhythms. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
The film's success is due in large part to actors who are both faithful to all the social minutiae and seductive enough to keep you watching. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
Snow Angels succeeds because of the depth of its well-drawn characters. With no cinematic sugarcoating, it's an organic story that draws us in to these people's lives, as flawed and destructive as they may be. Read full review
70
Washington PostJohn Anderson
Despite the foibles that have affected his films, the dramatic image has always been important to Green, who has developed quite a cult following and deserves it. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A power­ful drama, but if I didn’t know Green had directed it I probably wouldn’t have guessed. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
In spite of strong performances and a characteristically vivid sense of place, the film feels disjointed and heavy. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
It does give Sam Rockwell another opportunity to creep us out, and Kate Beckinsale a new shot at believability. Too bad the movie around them meanders. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Frankly, Snow Angels is a downer. This isn't inherently a negative - after all, some of the cinema's most powerful motion pictures are downbeat. However, in this case, there's no emotional force behind all the gloom - just a sense that something's missing. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
Thoughtfully crafted but ultimately lugubrious, Green's latest only really connects when the director sticks to the small stuff. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Green knows how to convey a mood visually and develop tension with his camera. He just doesn't give people enough interesting things to say or know when to shut them up. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Beckinsale tackles the downscale role manfully, but Rockwell is nearly unrecognizable as the pudgy, suicidally depressed, chronically inept Glenn, who's acting out a half-convincing portrayal of himself as a born-again Christian. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
For a film full of murder, jealousy and fatalism, Snow Angels feels curiously small and anecdotal, and its impact diminishes as it nears its terrible conclusion. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Despite all-around wonderful performances and excellent dialogue, the story never quite coheres narratively. Instead it moves toward a hopelessly bleak -- and I mean bleak -- climax that's more traumatic than dramatic. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Kate Beckinsale is too good for any of the guys in Snow Angels and too good for this movie. Her inventiveness exposes just how puny this movie is. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Scene by scene his (David Gordon Green’s) new film, Snow Angels, isn’t terrible. Parts of it are amusing, and there are wintry images that eat into the mind. But it’s one of the most disjunctive things I’ve ever sat through. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Green and his regular cinematographer Tim Orr have a feel for the sad, generic landscape of small-town America, but rather than adding to an overarching melancholy it only reinforces an already drab, at times bizarrely comic tone. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
An intriguing and somber tale of disintegrating and disappointing relationships fused with a coming-of-age story. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
I left as frustrated as that band teacher is at the beginning of the movie. Enough with these meek, banal exercises, David Gordon Green. Hit me with the sledgehammer in your heart. Read full review
More From This Movie

67 Critic Reviews

7.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL