The Low Down
Shooting Gallery | Release Date: April 20, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Covers this exact same territory, but does it with such refreshing, clearheaded honesty and skill it seems like a revelation. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
What distinguishes The Low Down from movies like "The Brothers McMullen" and "My Life's in Turnaround" is its ragged edge of authenticity, its refusal to plot its characters' lives on the graph of romantic comedy convention. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Exudes that seriousness about life and openness about style. It's about nothing and yet everything. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A well-acted first effort written and directed by Jamie Thraves. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Gets better the more attention you pay. To say "nothing happens" is to be blind to everyday life, during which we wage titanic struggles with our programming. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneLoren King
Lightweight but likable and blessedly free of the posing and pretensions that mark the Hollywood crop of twentysomething coming-of-age films. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
With its artfully artless hand-held cinematography, haphazard focus, non-diegetic dialogue and what sounds like a largely improvised script, Thraves's film is all about style, but contains a surprising amount of substance. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
Thraves escapes formula by shaping the film around low-key incidents instead of speeches or overt lessons. There are plenty of side streets here. Read full review
70
Film.comTom Keogh
Lots of movies deal with friends and lovers of a certain age growing apart. But few can hear, as Thraves does, the sound of death chains rattling in the background. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This kind of filmmaking is riddled with so-called errors, but these mistakes are indistinguishable from the uncommon rewards. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Captures the latent anxieties of a hazy, ambling existence with pinpoint accuracy. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Here’s a British spin on the familiar struggle of the couch potato who plans any minute now to get off his duff. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
Defiantly different, a movie that carefully checks the pulse of its characters rather than trying to get the blood rushing. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Captures the ensemble quality it was after and the provisional look and feel are perfect stylistic analogues to the lives - the male lives, anyway - that it's portraying. Read full review
60
Mr. ShowbizCody Clark
Almost nothing happens for most of the movie. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Thraves is skillful at evoking mood and atmosphere and at depicting transitional periods in a person's life with a mildly wistful humor. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
The whole thing is shot in an irritating, self-conscious way. Read full review
50
New Times (L.A.)David Ehrenstein
May be too low-key for its own good. Still, if you want to get in on the ground floor of Aidan Gillen's certain-to-be-skyrocketing career, it's a good place to start. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Has touches of quirky style to match its slightly edgy content. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
If the movie sometimes seems not to come to much either, it does have something to say to those patient enough to stick with it. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
The lowdown on The Low Down: charm 8, content 2. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Gillen can't make good on his gaze's search and destroy capabilities. Read full review
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