Under the Same Moon (La misma luna)
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: March 19, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The film says that the U.S. immigrant situation is untenable, but then it forces US to ask: What should be done? Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's an unexpectedly powerful little film that manages to say a lot of what, despite all the talk on the subject, isn't being said in the national debate on immigration. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Thanks to the uncommonly shrewd judgment of screenwriter Ligiah Villalobos and director Patricia Riggen, both newcomers, the film never feels like rank exploitation, even as it steadily aims for the emotional jugular. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A powerful and evocative account of the efforts undertaken to forge a perilous mother-and-child reunion. Told in Spanish with English subtitles, it is a moving tale of yearning, as well as unflagging courage and determination. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Although based on a fictional story, it has the feel of truth and is a vivid reminder of the hell Mexicans put themselves through to live in the United States, even illegally. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Instead of delivering a pointed statement, this timely and energetic crowd-pleaser aims for -- and accomplishes -- something much more difficult: It makes you fall in love with its characters. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The strong final third counterbalances the weaknesses of the first half. I prefer films that build to something worthwhile rather than collapse short of the finish line. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The result is a genuinely cathartic night at the movies - which is one of the reasons we go to them in the first place. Art it ain't, but popcorn is rarely this skilled or seductive. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It takes place on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, and it offers an undeniable argument that life without love is unpalatable on either side. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Its parallel stories of two lost souls seeking each other across geographical divides is never more than one small step away from mawkishness and cliché, and oftentimes less. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The filmmakers are smart enough – or cynical enough – to realize that we don't watch movies like Under the Same Moon in order to be surprised. We go to them for a good cry. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianGrant Butler
First-time director Patricia Riggen uses parallel story lines to tell the mother's and son's tales...It's a storytelling technique that's meant to emphasize how mother and son are utterly unaware of the other's struggles, but instead it robs the plot of tension, making the inevitable reunion seem schmaltzy. Read full review
63
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Accomplished and well-intentioned to the extent that one wants to accentuate the positive, but the positive isn't the whole, alas; for every moment in the film that evokes classic neo-realism, there's another that's commonplace or overly sentimental. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
An estimated 4 million Latinas leave one or more children behind when they travel north to find work. They deserve a more nuanced film, but this one’s often affecting. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
How do you say "tearjerker" in Spanish? Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
If Under the Same Moon is formula melodrama, the film is well acted and its lead character perceptively drawn. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
A harmless feel-good movie that tries to tell audiences what it's like to be a victimized immigrant, and mostly winds up telling them what it's like to have their heartstrings yanked, gratuitiously and often. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
For all the clumsy scenes and cloying performances, director Patricia Riggen puts her adults through tough choices and hard consequences. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
Wrapping the political hot potato of illegal immigration in the sentimental balm of a mother-son reunion drama, this stirring tale will be embraced most enthusiastically by Mexican audiences on both sides of the border. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
This largely Spanish-language film brings on the waterworks because its core story is undeniably affecting. The whole movie, however, would be more convincing if the elements around that vital core were more multidimensional and less contrived. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Under the Same Moon comes most vividly to life when Adrian Alonso is on the screen. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichelle Orange
The duo's travels never gain a traction of their own, and the film's destination feels overdetermined despite its sweetness. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
This is screenwriting by numbers. Unlike, say, Ken Loach’s marvelous “Bread and Roses,” Under the Same Moon is too busy sanctifying its protagonists and prodding our tear ducts to say anything remotely novel about immigration policies or their helpless victims. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Your enjoyment of this picaresque tearjerker may depend on how much you can tolerate its shameless contrivances and didactic social realism, whereby the story exists only to illustrate the plight of illegal aliens. I was ultimately more moved than appalled, but it was a close contest. Read full review
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