The Motorcycle Diaries
Focus Features | Release Date: September 24, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Lovely, heartfelt and unforced. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
One thing few will disagree on is the quality of the film's acting, especially by Gael García Bernal as Guevara and Rodrigo de la Serna as his friend. Both effortlessly embody the footloose, sometimes feckless quality of this "On the Road"-style adventure. Read full review
100
New York PostLou Lumenick
A gorgeous, poetic and stirring epic. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
A superb film. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The result is a rare and precious work. The Motorcycle Diaries is an epic road movie with everything you'd want from such a film: laughs, kicks, adventures, pathos, poetry, natural beauty, strange encounters and friendship tested and strengthened. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Mr. Bernal's soulful, magnetic performance notwithstanding, the real star of the film is South America itself, revealed in the cinematographer Eric Gautier's misty green images as a land of jarring and enigmatic beauty. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Soulful and reflective film, as gentle as it is potent. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Provides a smart, insightful prologue to the career of the man who continues to inspire countless people around the world. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A mesmerizing look at an asthmatic, rich-boy medical student in the act of discovering his insurgent spirit. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
More coming-of-age story than biopic, this Guevara odyssey is a transformative adventure well worth watching. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Salles' movie isn't fiery or didactic. It doesn't rage or storm. Salles romanticizes the youthful Ernesto. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A steady, soulful film experience. It's got poetry to it - the poetry of humanity. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Captures the lovely, heart-and-eye-opening ode to youthful possibility with affection and compassion. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Nothing like a full picture of Che--nor of Granado and his eventual scientific career in Cuba, for that matter. But it exhilarates with the spirit of these young men in Act One of their lives. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The film is a deeply felt and beautifully acted hagiography. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
This intelligently made picture is artful but not arty, political without being didactic. Read full review
80
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
Subtle, funny and touching. It’s not like a blow-by-blow “Birth of a Hero” type of film. The script is near perfect and the acting is spot on. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A convincing, entertaining portrait of the revolutionist as a young man.
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
There is a balancing act at work here that sometimes makes the film seem too careful, but I found it a lovely and supremely moving experience, a haunting symphony in a minor key if not a knock-your-socks-off masterpiece. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The movie's not heavyhanded about this coming of moral age; the revelations unfurl in subtle ways. What Bernal and this well-wrought movie convey so well is the charisma that would soon become a part of human history. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
There is no great story being told here. Mostly, it is a conventional road movie - a buddy comedy even - about the quests of two likable guys. The memoirs exist only because of Guevara's subsequent fame as a revolutionary leader in Cuba, Congo and Bolivia. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Some might not even notice what's going on when director Walter Salles finally shows his hand, and ends the film with documentary footage of the real-life Granado, now aged 81, romping in the earthly paradise that is present-day Cuba. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Captures some of the spirit of the real Che. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
A smartly scoped story of great personal growth and transformation. It's not hard to see the personality/political basis for Che's later revolutionary actions. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Handsomely shot by Brazilian director Walter Salles and beautifully played by the two leads, The Motorcycle Diaries would amount to little more than a minor, softly politically conscious coming-of-age story, if not for its historical context. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The film works best when it doesn't try so hard, when Salles simply allows his excellent actors and his beautiful images to work their magic. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's a picturesque tale that, hobbled by its episodic structure, never achieves full steam. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Surprisingly effective re-creation of a Latin American Bing and Bob on the Road to History. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
"Dr. Goodlove," or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Proletariat" might have been a better title for this ingratiatingly loopy origin story about prerevolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Seen simply as a film, The Motorcycle Diaries is attenuated and tedious. We understand that Ernesto and Alberto are friends, but that's about all we find out about them; they develop none of the complexities of other on-the-road couples, like Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde or Huck and Jim. There isn't much chemistry. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
For a movie, this feels inadequate, despite its splendors and, later, its social dismay. It does, however, have the makings of a grand postcard. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Lovely to look at but insipid. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Glazed over by its worship of Che Guevara. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
It's much easier to linger on his youthful idealism than on how that idealism eventually manifested itself. It certainly makes for a much prettier picture. But when your subject is Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara, it is disingenuous. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Much of the film glides past with a slightly purposeless elegance. Astounding landscapes rise and fall away; enticing women glance and dance and disappear. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
A gorgeously burnished vintage post card come to life, Motorcycle Diaries has about as much depth and emotional currency as the cardboard that post card would be stamped on. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
It never conjures up any coherent drama of its own, focusing instead on the historical destiny of Bernal's beefcake messiah. Read full review
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