The Life of David Gale
Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 21, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
31
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
17
Negative:
15
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
As I've implied, this is a great midnight movie: I enjoyed every patchily edited, ham-fisted scene. But I don't like seeing the wonderful Kate Winslet look stupid, or the wonderful Laura Linney abase herself. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The movie depends on one of those big surprise endings for its effectiveness, but the script gives itself away in the first act. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A shock ending may be the best hope for this film, a convoluted mystery that thinks it's way smarter than it is. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
By the end, it reveals itself as too pat, too absurd and -- as a polemic against capital punishment -- philosophically self- defeating. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
There's no real artistry to this: It's as though Parker has just seen "Seven" and suffered some sort of David Fincher flashback. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Soon, the audience feels its own sense of despair -- for a movie that might have worked but didn't. Read full review
50
VarietyDavid Stratton
Punches the expected buttons without being entirely convincing. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
In trying to disguise his themes within the structure of a noir thriller, Parker was simply more successful at fooling himself than us. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
More concerned with quickening our pulses than broadening our minds. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
In the end, the intelligence of the dialogue and crack acting are wrestled to the ground by the zealous politics, the formulaic narrative and a wan and flaccid air unusual from the reliably nifty Parker. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A self-righteous mishmash that can't decide whether to be a tribute to the fanatical leftist passion that thrives in college towns, an indictment of that very same fanaticism, or a ghoulishly didactic snuff-video thriller. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Randolph and Parker play fair with us, setting up a motive early and clearly. Yet whether you buy the motive or find it far-fetched, it almost immediately tells you who's responsible for the death. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film's greatest asset is Linney, whose prickly, finely calibrated performance as the doomed Harraway makes her loss resonate more powerfully than any of the point-counterpoint rhetoric. Read full review
40
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The film doesn't have anything but bad news for Spacey fans anxious for the actor to break a stinky streak. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Becomes more and more preposterous with each scene -- it's almost like performance art. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Frankly, the film's real surprise is that it doesn't collapse under the weight of its sanctimonious posturing and howling pretension. The film is crammed with high-cultural references and people playing "smart," but none of it adds up. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyJohn Powers
The movie's one unalloyed pleasure is a funny Goth Girl, played by Melissa McCarthy, who grasps, as Parker apparently doesn't, that the script is energetic rubbish, not The Greatest Story Ever Told. Read full review
More From This Movie

31 Critic Reviews

6.7 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 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 63 Normal
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL