The Situation
Shadow Distribution | Release Date: February 2, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
The Situation is written by Wendell Steavenson, a reporter who served in Iraq, as a work of fiction. Its best quality is that the situation in Iraq appears to be sadly realistic. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Shot in Morocco with hand-held cameras, the movie has the urgency of a heart attack. Clearly tilted against the war, and heavy on explanatory dialogue, it paints a bleak picture of a desperate country that is being exploited by extremists at the expense of the despairing citizens. The situation is dire. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
While not easy to watch, and at times even harder to follow, Haas' film is an important attempt to accurately capture the confusing reality of contemporary Iraq. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Compelling and deeply disturbing. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The Situation, Philip Haas's deftly paced, well-written, and brilliantly infuriating Iraq War thriller is not only the strongest of recent geopolitical hotspot flicks but one that has been designed for maximal agitation. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The Situation deserves credit for not trying to reduce the events in Iraq to facile equations. There is corruption and cynicism on all sides: the U.S. diplomats and military, the Sunni leaders, the thugs in cop uniforms, the local powerbrokers. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
An overstuffed, unengaging drama that makes time for a love triangle. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeSandy MacDonald
Overall the concept is strong and expertly fleshed out; it's just a pity that Hollywood tropes are allowed to invade. Read full review
50
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Undeniably topical but the lack of emotional investment in its characters renders it more intelligent than engaging. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
An uneven but impressively ambitious picture. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Dividing its loyalties between documentary and fictional narrative, it lacks the advantages of belonging to either side. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
As ambitious in scope as it is interpretively timid, The Situation delivers the requisite incendiary climax, but collapses in on itself with daft speeches about the elusiveness of truth in something called "the fourth dimension of time." Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The Situation is, to put it kindly, a spotty piece of work. The script is by Wendell Steavenson, a reporter who seems to know everything about Iraq and next to nothing about screenwriting. The dialogue is flat, and the actors almost never rise above it. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
This awkward and half-digested movie gives off a melancholy reek. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Part war drama, part political thriller, part romance -- and wholly uninvolving. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The situation in The Situation is grimly photogenic, yet persistently opaque.
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Though Philip Haas's digitally shot film has the firsthand immediacy of such nonfictional docs as "Iraq in Fragments" and "Gunner Palace," its dramatic template feels disappointingly secondhand. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The romance makes an awkward, contrived fit with the nominally serious political stuff, and even those momentous events come off as generic and unconvincing. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
It's a rare moment when the STORY makes the point, not the speeches. Read full review
20
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Exploitation cinema of the most narcoleptic kind. Read full review
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