The Thirteenth Floor
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: May 28, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
12
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Well acted and crisply directed, this latest version can at least make a claim to competence. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Things become almost too strange and convoluted to handle. The story's dramatic effectiveness starts to seriously malfunction. The fascinating and the mysterious become the silly and occasionally comical. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
A solid, interesting B-movie, in another season it would seem a good deal fresher. Read full review
60
VarietyRobert Koehler
Comes too late, far surpassed by similar and more visually stunning devices in "The Matrix," and even by the mind-bending realities of "eXistenZ." Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
No-one's-home acting by Bierko and Mol doesn't help, while the talented D'Onofrio ("The End of the World") and Mueller-Stahl (a veteran of European pictures) are better than the material. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Despite earnest performances by Mueller-Stahl, Bierko, Mol and Vincent d'Onofrio (in the duel role of a programmer and a VR bartender), the movie feels like a bit of a rehash. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Terry Gilliam's “12 Monkeys” can teach The Thirteenth Floor a little something about how to have fun with time travel. And with one number less. [28 May 1999, Life, p.7E]
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
There is a very good movie stuck somewhere on The Thirteenth Floor trying to get out. Too bad this isn't it. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Darkly elegant cinematography helps compensate for awful dialogue and lackluster acting. Read full review
50
Washington PostRita Kempley
Rusnak, who was the second-unit director of "Godzilla," brings plenty of style to this ambitious yet utterly anticlimactic thumb-sucker. Read full review
40
The New York TimesLawrence Van Gelder
Repackaged as cyberthriller, the old time-travel adventure returns in this stylish but overplotted and ultimately illogical combination of science fiction, mystery and romance. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
For all the soaring visual splendor of its past, present and future, it's hobbled by a murky plot that proves to be not all that original once it starts unraveling. Read full review
40
Film ThreatRon Wells
The fourth best virtual reality film of 1999. The best is "The Matrix". The second best is "eXistenZ". The third best, well, there's got to be something better than this. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneBarbara Shulgasser
Let's just say that not revealing this film's idiotic intricacies would be like not divulging that the fish is rotten lest the news spoil the surprise of food poisoning. [28 May 1999, Friday, p.A]
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Thirteenth Floor shows what can happen when film makers fail to recognize that they need more than a concept to establish a full-length motion picture. Read full review
30
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Between the 12th floor and the 14th floor, boredom awaits! Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Fumbles on so many levels it's just plain silly. To paraphrase the film's tagline: The Thirteenth Floor: You can go there, but why would you want to? Read full review
30
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
It'll make you cyberlaugh, it'll make you cybercry, just like cyberlife -- One thing is certain: your boredom Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverM. V. Moorhead
It doesn't help that the special effects aren't spectacular, the pace is numbing, and Bierko is an even less mesmerizing presence than Keanu Reeves. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Another virtual-reality SF movie -- and you're not likely to care. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyStaff (not credited)
So what is real? Only the boredom of the audience as the film collapses from one meaningless false-bottom environment to the next. Read full review
10
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Offers no perverse philosophical conundrums and no eye-popping visuals. It's a dull, lifeless bore. Read full review
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