The Dying Gaul
Strand Releasing | Release Date: November 4, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A small, self-contained gem of incisive writing, superb acting and rich, expressive visuals. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Mr. Sarsgaard gives the riskiest screen performance of his career. Save perhaps for Sean Penn's outbursts in "Dead Man Walking" and "Mystic River," no actor in a recent American film has delivered as explosive a depiction of a man emotionally blasted apart. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Has too many contrivances, but as an act of sinister staging, it proves Lucas, the noted playwright, to be a born filmmaker. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBob Westal
The Dying Gaul is Craig Lucas's film directing debut, and it's impressive. The film never feels one bit like a stage adaptation. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Lucas' beautiful script and a trio of first-rate performances carry the material with an intermittently breathtaking urgency. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The Dying Gaul stays interesting even when it asks more and more--too much, probably--of the audience's disbelief suspension. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The actors could not be better. Sarsgaard, Scott and the luminous Clarkson negotiate the film's razor-sharp laughs and bone-deep tragedy with resonant skill. Lucas' powerfully haunting film gets under your skin. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Exchanging Buddhist mantras like diet tips, they thoughtlessly destroy themselves after destroying each other. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
This may be the best work we've seen from either actor, which is saying something. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The Dying Gaul has the best kind of story in that it unfolds as a series of surprises, and yet every step, twist and turn seems inevitable in retrospect. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Before it disappears into a fog of confusion and damaging contradictions within its characters, The Dying Gaul presents an ironic, provocative look at what its creator, Craig Lucas, calls a postmodern Hollywood noir. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
If you cut through Lucas' thickets of self-reflexivity, metaphysical mumbo jumbo and banal potshots at media violence, there are three ace performances here by actors who can elevate and enliven even as mediocre a piece of material as this. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It leads to one of those endings where you sit there wishing they'd tried a little harder to think up something better. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
The heavily symbolic The Dying Gaul doubtless worked better as a play, but the film is worth seeing for its peerless cast. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The film builds into a lurid and suspenseful thriller. Read full review
60
VarietyRobert Koehler
Despite a reliable cast led by Scott, Patricia Clarkson and Peter Sarsgaard, the human impact is ultimately lost in a too calculated scenario. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Entertaining if cornball, lacking the cold-eyed nastiness of something like Mike Nichols's "Closer," The Dying Gaul is tricked out with strident montage sequences and tremulous Steve Reich music. It's already drowning in an icky sea of language when Lucas makes a stretch for Greek tragedy and sends the whole Malibu playhouse abruptly crashing down. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Takes itself awfully seriously. It feels a bit like a grudge piece, laboring to grasp at large themes, but it is as trivialized as the capricious world it explores. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Although The Dying Gaul tries to evoke the pathos of Greek tragedy and the stars strive heroically, there's none of the requisite grandeur in this trio of creeps to make it worth caring what happens to them. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Does not go gentle into that good night. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
These are three characters in search of a moral pulse. Read full review
30
SlateDavid Edelstein
A sour little psychodrama. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
The Dying Gaul becomes so overwrought in the last act that it ends up as pure histrionics. Read full review
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