The Kid with a Bike
Sundance Selects | Release Date: March 16, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
87
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 5, 2012
Leery filmgoers can exhale: The Kid With a Bike may hew faithfully to the Dardennes' house style of spare, lucid storytelling. But without giving anything away, let's just say that with this simple, deeply affecting tale, they never set out to break your heart. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 29, 2012
The Dardennes achieve lyricism without seeming to try. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderBen SachsMar 22, 2012
Makes a powerful statement about the plight of unwanted children. But it also incorporates elements of melodrama, film noir, and even the fairy tale that engage our empathy and confirm the Dardennes' great compassion. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMar 18, 2012
No one charts the wilds of childhood more precisely than the Dardennes. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 15, 2012
A quietly rapturous film about love and redemption. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 15, 2012
Working on a scale that's minuscule by studio standards, the Dardenne brothers have made yet another movie that does what Hollywood used to do - keep us rapt, and leave us grateful. Read full review
100
Time OutKeith UhlichMar 13, 2012
Those Dardenne brothers…still making great movies with second-nature ease. Read full review
100
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 12, 2012
The real reason to see The Kid with a Bike is that it offers something changelessly rare and difficult: a credible portrait of goodness. [19 March 2012, p.90]
91
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasMar 14, 2012
The second half of The Kid With A Bike diverges so much from the first that they seem like two different movies - the first a drama about an orphan's search for home, the second a moral thriller about the terrible things all people, no matter their social station, are willing to do in the interest of self-preservation. Both sections are riveting in their own way, and punctuated by startling shocks and bursts of emotion. Read full review
90
Village VoiceKarina LongworthMar 13, 2012
The Kid With a Bike seems to unfold in a different world than that of previous Dardenne joints, one with a wider range of spiritual and practical possibilities. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMar 12, 2012
Kindness is evident in even the most hurt or exasperated moments of de France's lovely performance as Samantha. But then, kindness couched in unblinking social realism is an intrinsic part of how these supremely gifted filmmakers view the world. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenApr 11, 2012
How the Dardennes, time and again, turn gritty, mundane subjects into transcendent moments of honesty and truth is one of the great cinematic wonders. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonApr 13, 2012
This is a film that's not always easy to watch, but just about impossible to forget. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 22, 2012
This is the first film the Dardennes shot in the summertime. Excellent choice of seasons. I'm not sure I could've handled Cyril's travails without it, or without de France's smile. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 21, 2012
The most mysterious character in The Kid With a Bike is not the kid, who after all, has a story it's fairly easy to understand. It is the hairdresser, played by Cecille De France with her sad beauty. This actress carries lifetimes in her eyes. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 16, 2012
As usual for the Dardennes, the plot is slight but loaded with hairpin turns of tremendous emotional power. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 5, 2012
It's the powerful emotional punch their films deliver - and this one is no exception - that elevate the game, that make them so satisfying, so worthwhile. The Kid With a Bike grabs at the heart. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineFernando F. CroceMar 5, 2012
If The Kid with a Bike is a fairy tale, it's the unsentimental kind that locates the dark enchantment in characters discovering themselves during their most despairing moments. Still, it's certainly the Dardennes' fleetest, warmest film to date. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 23, 2012
It's minor, but powerfully so. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 22, 2012
The film is unafraid of emotion, unafraid of plunging into basic human ideas: the need for trust, and the search for love. Read full review
80
NPRJeannette CatsoulisMar 19, 2012
The Kid With a Bike feels as vulnerable as Cyril's unformed character. Within its tight 87 minutes, not a lot happens, unless you count the saving of a life. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerMar 19, 2012
In outline it sounds trite - a disenfranchised kid is turned around by a kindly stranger - but the Dardennes' make it so much more. Raw but compassionate, naturalistic but compelling. If you're looking to get into the Dardennes, this is a great place to start. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamMar 16, 2012
Good enough to survive evoking "Bicycle Thieves" and "The 400 Blows," this small story contains universal truths, told with irresistible force. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 16, 2012
The ambiguity is refreshing. And despite the complicated emotional story at the center of this film, the Dardennes, who wrote and directed, have opted to handle it all with a minimalist narrative style. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMar 15, 2012
It's miles away from big-budget, pop-culture entertainment, but you may be surprised by its impact. Read full review
80
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMar 14, 2012
The real strength of The Kid with a Bike is the cautious but generous warmth of its storytelling. Not much happens in The Kid with a Bike, but it leaves you grateful that the worst doesn't happen - with these characters, you might not be able to bear it. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 12, 2012
The breakout here is 13-year-old Doret, the Dardennes' latest stunningly naturalistic, non-professional acting discovery. Read full review
80
SalonMar 5, 2012
An edge-of-your-seat emotional roller-coaster ride about ordinary people in a nondescript neighborhood, it's sometimes terrifying, often heart-rending and completely worth it. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 29, 2012
It's a melodrama, but played with rigorous and surehanded spareness, and it never panders, even as it gets a mite hysterical near the end. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 22, 2012
What it means in practice is that, with a Dardennes movie, nothing much seems to be going on - until everything seems to be going on. We watch events at a remove, and then, at a certain magical point, we are in the story, and we don't quite know how they did it - again. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 5, 2012
Despite the simplicity of the brothers' technique, The Kid With a Bike has deep religious underpinnings, a relentless drive toward the mythos of death and resurrection. The film is not just in the tradition of Pinocchio and A.I.: It is a worthy successor. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRichard MoweMar 12, 2012
It is the boy's tough exterior and lack of self-pity that binds the narrative together, making this one of the Dardennes' most appealing undertakings. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithMar 16, 2012
In The Kid With a Bike, Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne offer a sly but finally banal update of the Italian neorealist classic "The Bicycle Thief." Read full review
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