Thirteen Days
New Line Cinema | Release Date: December 25, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Fascinating in its depiction of presidential leadership in action. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A terrifically engrossing war film in which not a single shot is fired, a movie about shaping events rather than being shaped by them.
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
A mesmerizingly suspenseful drama. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A big, square, rousing political thriller docudrama. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
An excellent movie about a real-life nail-biter, forcefully acted, true to its period and directed with clarity. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
One of the most exciting American movies about recent political history since, ironically, Oliver Stone's "JFK." Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Keeps you hanging on every twist and turn of its wilder-than-fiction plot.
75
USA TodayMike Clark
Once this 2 1/4-hour slow-starter finally finds its rhythm, we're reminded of how gripping policy give-and-take around a long rectangular table can be. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Greenwood, whose range has carried him from the lonely widower of "The Sweet Hereafter" to the creepy husband of "Double Jeopardy," gives a star-making performance. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
It turns the nerve-fraying Cuban missile crisis into a big pop myth with the grip of a vise.
75
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
A deeply involving and disturbing movie. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Plays like a very good TV movie. Short on visual flair and starpower, Thirteen Days is not the definitive story of the Cuban missile crisis, but it's an engrossing historical lesson nonetheless.
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Even though the actors are good, their characters stay stock.
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The subject is so gripping that you almost forgive the filmmakers for skewing their material in order to keep Costner's pretty face at the center of everything that happens. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I call the movie a thriller, even though the outcome is known, because it plays like one: We may know that the world doesn't end, but the players in this drama don't, and it is easy to identify with them. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
The players don't particularly look like their historical models, but they make us feel their life-threatening pain and puzzlement. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyF. X. Feeney
A refreshing breakaway from both idolatry and cynicism. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
I much prefer the whacked-out, Dr. Strangelove-ish brand of political-apocalypse film to all this straitlaced you-are-there dramaturgy, which seems a throwback to the early sixties not only in time but in spirit. But what Thirteen Days sets out to do it does admirably. Read full review
70
TNT RoughCutAndy Klein
Greenwood gives a nuanced performance that may be the film's best work, but at times his surface dissimilarities to JFK are jarring.
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Dealing with all these crises and decisions gives Thirteen Days a surprising amount of tension and watchability for a story whose outcome we already know. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Thoroughly gripping. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A suspenseful breath of fresh air following on the heels of one of the dumbest Hollywood summers in recent memory. Read full review
65
Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson
Assiduous, temperate, and a lot more honest about government and politicians than any other Hollywood film of the last few decades, Thirteen Days is nevertheless too little, too late. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Reasonably intelligent, well-crafted and dramatically understated. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A tense and engrossing political thriller. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Like President Kennedy, director Donaldson (who made "No Way Out," another pretty good Washington-seat-of-power thriller) has found a perfect balance of often-opposing forces: between recorded history and the demands of plain old entertainment. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Kevin Costner is suitably flinty in 13 Days, a competent, by-the-numbers recreation of the events surrounding the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This thriller is a lot better than you might expect--especially for a Kevin Costner vehicle. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
The efficiency of his (Donaldson) direction renders the movie somewhat characterless, like a top-rank made-for-TV production. Read full review
30
Film.comRobert Horton
This overdone project dissipates its energy in strange ways (sudden shifts to black-and-white, as though hailing the spirit of Oliver Stone and that other Costner JFK movie), and makes you wish its makers had shown the same restraint the government did during the crisis. Read full review
30
SalonMichael Sragow
A thoroughly bland and mediocre movie about the Cuban missile crisis. Read full review
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