The Visitor
Anchor Bay Entertainment | Release Date: April 11, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The Visitor, is, if anything, more imaginative and touching than his first. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
As a writer-director, McCarthy, like the characters and the places that he suffuses with emotion, has poetry in him - and he knows how to let it out. He has a talent for demarcating those spaces in which characters can become whoever they want to be. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It works on several levels, and stands out as a wistful meditation on the psychological cost of 9/11. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The curious thing about The Visitor is that even as it goes more or less where you think it will, it still manages to surprise you along the way. Read full review
90
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Eloquent and unassuming, it's a picture that hits home precisely because it doesn't overreach its grasp. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
McCarthy's flawless casting may be the film's greatest strength: Veteran character actor Jenkins and his costars vanish into their characters -- their performances are so subtle and unforced that they don't feel like performances at all. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It is one of the year's most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of powerful performances. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Best movie I've seen so far this year? Hands down, it's Tom McCarthy's superb The Visitor, which turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Jenkins and The Visitor”make lovely music together. It’s a case of a veteran character actor slipping on a leading role like the most comfortable pair of pants in the world. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This is a film of our times - paranoid, heartbroken, disillusioned - and the rare recent American movie whose characters react the way actual people might. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
This audaciously issues-loaded indie drama works, improbably and entirely, on account of the marvelous, often familiar-looking, rarely starring character actor Richard Jenkins and his perfect performance as a stodgy, widowed economics professor. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Like few of his filmmaking peers, McCarthy understands and respects the power of quiet, and how a whisper can be as explosive as a shout. Read full review
80
VarietyJohn Anderson
A combination immigrant/resurrection tale, Visitor tilts toward the soulful rather than the political, and could be this year's humanistic indie hit. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A compelling and illuminating story of four people who form an unlikely and momentary friendship of considerable depth. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
An unassuming but quietly heartbreaking drama. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Gives viewers a perceptive, deeply personal take on the timeless immigrant narrative, in which the most epic journey is finally one of self-discovery. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Powerful second film by writer-director Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent). Read full review
80
EmpireAnna Smith
The tension dips occasionally but stick with it and you'l be richly rewarded. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is a simple story of human drama that provides an incentive to spend a couple of hours in a movie theater during a spring that has not provided many such reasons. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The combined effect is, as I say, small but sincere. McCarthy may prove to have something bigger in him, or he may be a miniaturist content to build little stories and fill them with all the humanity they can bear. If that's the case, there are far less worthy ways to spend a career. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
At first glance Walter isn't a guy you want to spend two hours with. But by the end of the film, you don't want to see him go. Jenkins is like that: He sneaks up on you and steals your heart with light-fingered skill. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The Visitor is a small movie, but its emotions could not be writ any larger. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The Visitor tells of renewal through love. Its song is tinged with sadness, but stirring all the same. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Definitely a film that marches to its own drumbeat. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason McBride
The actor - like everyone else in this tedious yet affecting film - rises well above his soft-headed, solipsistic material, turning in a performance of nuanced delicacy. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Both director and cast exhibit the dedication of those who truly believe in the message at hand. But with so much earnestness onscreen, the message occasionally gets in the way of the movie itself. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
McCarthy is so careful not to take a political stand that his film seems neutered by good intentions. In the spirit of squishy humanism, he soft-pedals a hard-hitting topic. Read full review
50
Village VoiceScott Foundas
McCarthy unquestionably means well, but he's made one of those incredibly naïve movies that gives liberals a bad name, and which does more to regress the sociopolitical discourse than advance it. Read full review
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