The Giver
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: August 15, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
20
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 16, 2014
The strength of the cast speaks volumes about the "prestige" aspect of the production. In addition to Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, and Alexander Skarsgard contribute. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 14, 2014
Just in the last few months, we've seen "Snowpiercer" and "Divergent," which also deal with what happens after a civil collapse. The Giver, the latest in this weird trend, approaches a now-familiar topic from a new angle, and, of the three, it's the most visually arresting. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 12, 2014
In its own way, the movie version — handsomely directed by Phillip Noyce and featuring an appealing, sure-footed cast of emerging and veteran actors — aptly reflects The Giver’s pride of place as the one that started it all, or at least the latest wave. Read full review
67
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicAug 14, 2014
So the story is relentlessly rudimentary and it’s directed in an expected, uncomplicated, formulaic manner. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 13, 2014
The film begins to get a bit lost as the story develops and pushes toward a wobbly climax and conclusion. And what to make of that sled, which is the first bit of knowledge Jonas receives. Rosebud, anyone? Read full review
67
IndieWireDiana DrummAug 12, 2014
In spite of grand, world-building special effects and a stellar cast, the film falters under giant leaps of faith that land it just outside of the typical audience's threshold of suspension of disbelief. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 13, 2014
While The Giver scores points for being smarter and deeper than “The Hunger Games” or its inferior photo-copy (“Divergent”), coming after all those other versions of this plot does neither it, nor us, any favors. The Giver has nothing new to offer. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartAug 13, 2014
The Giver is at its best when Bridges expounds on civilization’s lost beauty and savagery; at other times, it’s strewn with implausibility: For a totalitarian society in which everyone is monitored constantly, our hero is able to sneak around an awful lot. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 9, 2014
By the end of the movie few won’t be rolling their eyes or checking their watch, but there’s enough that’s fundamentally good in the meat of film not to wholly reject what The Giver is giving us. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 12, 2014
A lazy ending mars this fine, if generic, take on a much-loved YA novel. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 15, 2014
The trouble with pet projects is that too often they are unduly do-goody, and so it is here. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianJeff BakerAug 15, 2014
The Giver has taken a slow route to the screen, passed by newer, sleecker dystopian novels for young adults. "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" owe much to Lowry's worldview and style while lacking her depth. What they have is strong female leads and plenty of action, elements absent in the spare parable of The Giver. Read full review
58
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanAug 14, 2014
The Giver has an unsavory reek of box-office calculation about it, from the overworked “teens-must-save-a-world-ruined-by-adults” plot to the casting of pop star Taylor Swift in a small and irrelevant role. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 13, 2014
The ironic side effect is that this major influence on today’s new class of dystopian YA smashes now looks like just another greedy knockoff on-screen—a monochromatic "Divergent," or something similar. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 15, 2014
You wind up with a movie that plays like a low-rent "Logan’s Run" crossed with a UNICEF commercial. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 15, 2014
Despite a truly pained performance from Jeff Bridges and a beautifully imagined, three-dimensional futuristic world, The Giver, in wanting to connect itself to more recent YA franchises, sacrifices subtlety, inference and power. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyAug 14, 2014
21 years later, in the wake of "The Hunger Games", "Divergent" and "The Lego Movie," another movie about a kid rebelling against socially imposed “sameness” is a case of the same old, same old. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 14, 2014
What's so unfunny about peace, love and understanding? Plenty, it turns out. But for much of the movie, viewers will be asking themselves where the conflict is. And, by extension, the drama. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 14, 2014
The Giver doesn’t seem entirely consistent about its own rules and races far too quickly to a thoroughly unsatisfactory conclusion that raises three questions for each answer it provides. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 14, 2014
While the adult performances are strong, especially Jeff Bridges in the title role, youthful characterizations are not nearly as illuminating as they were on the page. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 14, 2014
The movie runs an hour and a half. Lowry’s book can be read in less than a day. It still gives anyone — child or adult — more than enough to wrestle with. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirAug 14, 2014
The initial setup for the story is engaging enough, but Noyce and cinematographer Ross Emery have shot the whole thing in generic digital fake black-and-white, so it looks like a late-‘90s TV commercial for a soon-to-be-recalled compact car. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 14, 2014
It's not a lousy experience. Taylor Swift shows up in a glorified cameo. Thwaites has promise; Rush has more than that. But for a movie decrying the concept of societal "sameness," The Giver is a hypocritical movie indeed. Read full review
50
TheWrapInkoo KangAug 12, 2014
The Giver is an anti-totalitarian allegory so farcically hyperbolic it feels like only a teenager could have come up with it. Read full review
50
VarietyScott FoundasAug 12, 2014
The Giver reaches the screen in a version that captures the essence of Lowry’s affecting allegory but little of its mythic pull. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyJeff LabrecqueAug 14, 2014
It falls apart with a slapdash final act that doesn't work as drama or action and only serves to undermine Jonah's heroics. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 14, 2014
This isn't a terrible movie. It just falls flat, in almost every way. It exists and not much else. It's all too predictable, and way too heavy-handed. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 14, 2014
The Giver was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it’s too late. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 15, 2014
Lowry took chances with her novel. The movie of The Giver takes none. It's safe, sorry and a crashing bore. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDavid Lee DallasAug 14, 2014
The internal crisis of its protagonist amounts to the flicking of an on/off switch rather than the ebb and flow of a consciousness being born. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 14, 2014
In the end, it taketh — your time, patience and faith in newly imagined dystopias — more than it giveth. Read full review
25
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 14, 2014
There are some actual big ideas bubbling around somewhere below the surface of the film, but it's so ham-handed, so unable to grapple with the full implications of any of those ideas, that it actually becomes offensive. Read full review
20
The DissolveTasha RobinsonAug 14, 2014
Mostly the problem is that every aspect of The Giver feels both painfully familiar and like an awkward, unsupportable stretch. For a film about the deep, hidden dangers of enforced sameness, that’s almost hilariously ironic. Read full review
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