What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: June 18, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
11
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Tells a light-hearted fictional story and creates a maze of imaginative animation and special effects to illustrate how the heavier thoughts of the science apply to the everyday world. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
As a piece of filmmaking, What the Bleep isn't exactly transcendent stuff. But as an entryway into new ways of thinking about the self, the universe, and the vast infinite whatnot of whatever (you know what we mean, oh wise one), this little movie is big. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Apparently, the faith that can move mountains is detectable in the microscopes that can track electrons. If so, the metaphoric is real and, to me, that thought is as scary as it is thrilling -- but what the bleep do I know? Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Think of it as "The Matrix" for the quantum physics set. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
What the Bleep Do We Know? is both modern science for dummies and a feisty extension of our ongoing religious debate. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Not a conventional documentary about quantum physics. It's more like a collision in the editing room between talking heads, an impenetrable human parable and a hallucinogenic animated cartoon. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
The film is amateurish in places, but fascinating: Bring your eager hypothalamus and your tuned-up frontal lobes with you. They'll get a workout. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Pic's not-so-hidden agenda is to promote the fusion of science and New Age religion, making it a close cousin to ventures as Bernt and Fritjof Capra's "Mindwalk." Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
As entertainment, the movie is a mixed bag. Some of the talking heads become just that after a while. Read full review
50
Village VoiceBenjamin Strong
Matlin's haphephobic character dry-swallows anti-anxiety pills only in instances of extreme duress, but the actress herself looks pained throughout the movie, wincing reflexively at inappropriate moments. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDave Kehr
Once upon a time this was known as "the power of positive thinking," and it didn't involve nearly so much math. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
There are many tantalizing bits, but the overall result is a simplistic story wrapped in barely explained quantum physics and new-age sound bites. Fascinating and frustrating in about equal measure. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
It's fun, instructive, and stimulating, but never beautiful. Ultimately it's limited by its compulsion to knock our socks off at every turn and to compare itself with "Alice in Wonderland." Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
The movie annoyingly waits until the end to reveal the names of those experts who have been doing all the talking; it would have been nice to know these folks' qualifications first. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyMargaret Wertheim
In the age of creationism, a sympathetic mix of science and religion sounds like a promising premise. But in this genre-blending cocktail of drama, documentary and computer-graphic animation, quantum physics is so subordinated to the service of an anything-goes mysticism that little remains of the science except the terminology. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Part metaphysical treatise, part educational primer, and part dangerously goofy self-help manual for the New Age set, this bizarre and not unentertaining documentary strives mightily to teach the lay audience everything there is to know about quantum physics in 108 minutes. Read full review
40
EmpireAnna Smith
Touches on some interesting philosophical ideas, but it's poorly-produced and unclear in tone. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
"Quantum Bull-Bleep" would be a more apt title for the conclusions that the movie draws, but one concept was a revelation to me. One of the scientists said it's a fact that a single object can be in two places at the same time. I guess that explains O.J.'s alibi. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Darts around maniacally before congealing around a touchy-feely message of personal empowerment whose secular humanism and moral relativism is bound to strike fundamentalists of all stripes as downright Satanic. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
On the whole, it feels like a cross between a PBS special hosted by a series of low-rent Deepak Chopras and an infomercial for self-help audio tapes. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Why would anyone who wanted his or her film to be taken seriously saddle it with a cutesy title like this? Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The biggest puzzlement about "What'' is what it's doing in major movie theaters around the country when it so clearly belongs on one of those small cable channels given to peculiar programming. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A terribly self-satisfied lecture about the ubiquity of quantum physics in spiritual life, is dishonest enough to suggest that even its cavalcade of scientists and mystics might not know anything about such topics as reality and the sub-atomic world. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Emits a fishy odor, like a recruitment film for an obscure cult you'd rather stay away from. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The film treats its audience like fidgety junior-high schoolers, piling on the sub-Koyaanisqatsi cityscapes and cheesy episodes with Marlee Matlin as a lonely photographer, plus bouncy cartoons of human cells who look as if they'd be happier chasing stains in bathroom-cleanser commercials. Read full review
0
New York PostLou Lumenick
Nearly two hours of New Age hooey. Read full review
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