The Greatest
Paladin (II) | Release Date: April 2, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex Reed
A film of maturity and courage, one that kept me consistently engaged. Quite an accomplishment, really, for a new filmmaker on her first date with a camera. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The Greatest raises compelling questions about how parents continue on after the death of a child. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Brosnan, on a roll with this film and "The Ghost Writer," vividly etches the emotional fissures in a man coming apart. The Greatest takes a piece out of you. Read full review
60
Village VoiceChuck Wilson
First-time writer-director Shana Feste has made an uneven but often affecting film that requires its gifted cast to push hard against the script's schematic plotting to find moments of real emotion. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesGary Goldstein
Unfortunately, though its heart is smack in the right place, The Greatest tends to play more like a collection of appropriate, well-acted scenes than as a fully satisfying narrative. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It’s when the small moments become large ones that Feste overreaches and the shaky performances don’t bail her out. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
What a waste of a talented cast! There are times when it can be depressing to see so much acting potential wasted on a script unable to elicit the best from its stars, and this is one such occasion. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A histrionic mess. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
So the screenplay is a soap operatic mess, involving distractions, loose ends, and sheer carelessness. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The filmmaker’s uncertainty shows itself in drably functional camerawork and an over-reliance on Christophe Beck’s tasteful piano-and-violin score. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Brosnan, who finds the truth in his character, is quite affecting. And Mulligan, gamely defining a surprisingly undefined young woman, is like a sunbeam piercing the gloom. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Brosnan has never been so opened up, so emotional and yet so precise in his work. It's a lovely performance in a film that only sometimes deserves him. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Not a sterling example of how to make a high-toned weepie, let alone a serious examination of trauma. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid Fear
Given that Sarandon played this same role so sublimely before in "Moonlight Mile," her devolution into theatrical rending of garments and gnashing of teeth is particularly disappointing, but no one--not Brosnan’s shell-shocked–by-numbers patriarch nor Mulligan’s wide-eyed waif--comes out of this steroidal pity party unscathed. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Dignity dies a million deaths despite the best intentions. Read full review
40
TimeMary Pols
The Greatest often feels like a mash-up of Sarandon's greatest grief hits. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Not even the skillful performances of its stars, Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan, playing the boy’s parents, can cover up the mysterious gaps in continuity of a screenplay whose thudding dialogue spells out every emotion while refusing to clarify many crucial plot details. Read full review
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