The Good Shepherd
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 22, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireKim Newman
Well-crafted and well-acted, but ever-so-slightly worthy and strangely unaffecting. Given the track record of the CIA, it probably ought to be angrier. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The most interesting thing about The Good Shepherd is how hard the filmmakers work not only to demystify the agency, but also to strip it of its allure, its heat. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
In some ways, De Niro does a competent job in his second directorial effort but his characterizations are clumsy, and his members of the Power Elite always seem less real people than stick figures in a propaganda movie. Read full review
58
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
If only De Niro or screenwriter Eric Roth had the instinct to play some of this for laughs or even outrageous burlesque. Despite their conviction and intelligence and their game, amazing cast, all they do is eke out a series of straight-faced dramatic reversals and personal betrayals that leave the dramatis personae, and the audience, numb. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Despite successfully creating the illusion of forbidden glimpses, The Good Shepherd slogs through most of its lengthy running time. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Perhaps it's fitting that a movie about the early CIA be tangled and opaque, but this drama loosely based on the life of uberspook James Angleton verges on incoherence. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
A glacially paced, emotionally frosty epic (with a top-drawer cast). Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
De Niro made the right choice in making this a film of cold, gray Leiters rather than dynamic Bonds. But he never makes us feel the chill. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Where's 007 when you need him? Neither shaken nor stirred, The Good Shepherd is a flat draft of history that looks at the Central Intelligence Agency's early years through the horn-rimmed gaze of a fictional spook. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The Good Shepherd, soft when it needs to be sharp, is all cloak with very little dagger. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
If serious intent led inevitably to greatness, The Good Shepherd would be a masterpiece. It turtles forward for 160 minutes with unrelenting, humorless solemnity, as if everyone involved were unaware that it has arrived three decades too late to matter. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Good Shepherd, for all its noble intentions, manages to make even espionage boring. Read full review
50
VarietyStaff (Not credited)
Robert De Niro's second film as a director adopts a methodical approach and deliberate pace in attempting to grasp an almost forbiddingly intricate subject, with a result that is not boring, exactly, but undeniably tedious. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
The Good Shepherd needed to be either considerably longer -- more like 1979's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" miniseries -- or considerably shorter (word has it De Niro cut 30 minutes). Right now, it's stuck in the deadly dull middle in which everything happens but nothing matters since the filmmakers can't stick with one event or idea long enough for it to, well, stick. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
De Niro is damned if he's going to make a standard thriller out of this view from within the CIA, which might be refreshing if his solemn moral parable weren't so lacking in any other kind of juice, and if its hero were less of a round-shouldered, whey-faced organization man. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

6.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL