76
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasDown to the Bone emerges with an aura of authenticity so strong as to be mesmerizing, thanks to a superior script brought to life with infallibly natural performances.
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorQuietly devastating.
- 75TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghA quietly harrowing chronicle of addiction and fragile recovery anchored by Vera Farmiga's intense performance.
- 75New York PostNew York PostWriter-director Debra Granik has found a star, and wisely builds every scene around Farmiga's character.
- 70Film ThreatPete Vonder HaarFilm ThreatPete Vonder HaarStrong performances from Vera Farmiga and Hugh Dillon keep things from becoming overdramatic.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThis is a performance without the histrionics and emotional outbursts that accompany most portrayals of addiction. This feels closer to the truth.
- 70VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerFirst-time feature director's disciplined objectivity is coupled with humanism in this collaboration with a gifted cast and cinematographer. The artistic success, though, may be a bit too cool.
- 70Village VoiceLaura SinagraVillage VoiceLaura SinagraLike Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen," this film has an ear for the way moms talk to kids, a sensitivity to drug-sweetened intimacies, and an appreciation of the urgent nuance, not just the comedy, of recovery-speak.
- 70The New York TimesLawrence Van GelderThe New York TimesLawrence Van GelderThe kind of movie most independent films strive in vain to be: a small, beautifully faceted gem.
- 63New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardFarmiga is excellent as a woman who is like the mouse she feeds to her son's pet snake - trapped and about to be eaten alive by ordinary circumstance.