65
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceAmy TaubinVillage VoiceAmy TaubinTender, poignant, and homoerotically charged, this complicated father-son relationship is brought to life by two brilliant actors and a director who's canny enough to give them all the room they need.
- 80Los Angeles TimesGene SeymourLos Angeles TimesGene SeymourOne of the least sensationalistic--and therefore, more unsettlingly plausible--visions of prison life ever transfigured into big-screen drama.
- 75New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanA wonderfully acted, strangely low-key prison movie.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittBuscemi's directing blends hard-hitting visual qualities with great emotional energy.
- 70The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottWillem Dafoe steals the picture with his comic timing.
- 70Film.comErnest HardyFilm.comErnest HardyIt's a guy's film that doesn't just revel in testosterone, though -- it has a more purposeful agenda.
- 60L.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonL.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonWhat enrich the film are its layers of detail -- moronic racial protocols, turf wars, pecking orders, men as livestock -- the authenticity of the dialogue and the rich range of characters.
- 50SalonStephanie ZacharekSalonStephanie ZacharekYou come away with the sense that you should have come to care (or at least to know) more about its central characters than you do.
- 50New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami Bernard(Rourke's) nearly unrecognizable presence is characteristic of the odd pockets of talent (and, sometimes, lint) in Steve Buscemi's film.