Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Bowling for Columbine
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 165 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by: Michael Moore
Directed by: Michael Moore
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 11, 2002
DVD: August 19, 2003
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: Canada / USA
Summary
RATING: R for some violent images and language
Starring Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Dick Clark, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Manson, John Nichols, and Matt Stone
Famed documentarian Michael Moore returns with his first feature film in five years, as he tackles the issue of America's unique obsession with firearms.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Capitalism: A Love Story Fahrenheit 9/11 Sicko
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site Official Director Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel
Documentary reaches an exalted level of filmmaking. It explains the very fabric of American society.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Moore's best movie, and one of the most blisteringly effective polemics and documentaries ever.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
This volcanically funny and seriously scary look at America's obsession with guns is meant to shake us up good. And it does.
Read Full Review >Variety Lisa Nesselson
The sparks fly thanks to Moore's patented blend of curveball research, expedient juxtaposition, genuine satire and bottomless chutzpah.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Moore's roving essay feels even more urgent now than it did when the jury had to make up an award to honor it at the Cannes film festival in May.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Imperfect as it may be, Bowling for Columbine is riveting stuff.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
That broad range of subject matter is indicative of the messy, meandering structure of the movie. But if Moore fails to tie this unwieldy movie into a lucid thesis, at least every tangent he chases down has its own payoff.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Impressively reframes the gun-control debate in terms that advocates of both sides might find fruitful, but Moore doesn't do anything to shed his reputation as a snot.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
When he follows his nose -- say, by tracing his own connections to Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters -- he implicates himself in what he hates and fears, and he emerges as a wounded patriot searching for a small measure of clarity. [28 October 2002, p. 119]
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Often uproariously funny, even though much of its queasy power comes from its acknowledgment that some matters are too horrifying to be washed away with cheap laughter, or packaged into soundbites.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Moore turns the camera on himself too often for comfort, but he provides an eye-opening array of facts and revelations.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Even Moore's target ticket-buyers are likely to squirm with concern, unsure of who the real weasels and idiots are in this large, unkempt, rambunctious country of ours.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Moore brilliantly unmasks the inanity of the arguments used in the debate over gun control in America. He then undermines himself by leaping into the blame game without supporting his central thesis, that the media is what makes teens like the ones at Columbine turn around and shoot up their schools.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Moore continues another one infinitely more valuable -- the proud line that extends right back to Mark Twain, embracing all those satirists so enamoured with America at its best that they won't stand silent for America at its worst.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
At its best, the movie powerfully indicts our violent history. A montage of bloody U.S. interventions in foreign affairs over the last half-century, most overthrowing elected governments we didn't like, left me shaken.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Moore's concern about issues is genuine, and his showboating technique is often entertaining. But he is not the most organized person in the world, and there is a scattershot randomness about this film that is both its essence and a source of frustration.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark A. Altman
It’s a welcome addition to the national debate, which while not always on the money, is consistently thoughtful, smart and thoroughly satisfying.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Disturbing, infuriating and often very funny film.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
It does get K-Mart to pull handgun and assault ammunition from their shelves after two Columbine survivors show up at corporate headquarters with Moore's camera crew in tow and bullets bought for 13 cents apiece at a K-Mart store still embedded in their bodies.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Moore's best film to date is this comic and grimly entertaining reflection on America's gun craziness and why we kill one another.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Fun and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Moore provides a rather rambling discourse of causality, which includes racism, white flight and Africanized bees.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Something appalling about the way he turns to the camera with a look of sorrow: Michael Moore as a suffering Christ. It's an insult to his own movie, which at its considerable best transcends his thuggish personality.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The only thing wrong with Bowling for Columbine is Moore himself.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's vintage Moore: on one level the courageous act of a gutsy journalist, and, on another, a callously unfair and self-serving spectacle that makes Moore seem like a big bully, and puts his audience into the position of a vigilante mob.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Where Bowling for Columbine is at its most valuable is in its examination of America's culture of fear as a root cause of gun violence.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Powers
It seems to have been made to delight European intellectuals and anyone else who believes that America is a land of bloodthirsty yet comical barbarians.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
It's poorly structured, a half-hour too long, and devotedly fixated on the filmmaker's persona.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 165 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Anonymous] gave it a0:
Supposedly a documentary, this movie is not only deceptive but is down right FALSE! It uses creatively edited footage to fool its audience and uses skewed and in some cases grossly inaccurate numbers. This video made me sick to my stomach that Mr. Moore could get away with blatently lying to viewers and editing speeches made by Charleton Heston to appear as if he was saying something completely different.
[Anonymous] gave it a1:
There is a 1 for neat editing. I might have given a 7 for the plot and acting, but the film, apparently, is billed as a documentary. As a documentary it is a strange beast which mashes together bits of Moore's footage complete with his insidious commentary. Moore's feigned confusion as he stumbles inexorably towards his startling conclusion [it were Bush what done it!] is a painful experience. I suppose if you treat the whole thing dispationately it could be viewed as funny. That is, is you think the Columbine massacre is a joke.
Terry B. gave it a10:
I don't know if other people watched the same movie that I watched. In the movie, Moore is just telling the truth. Now I know that the truth hurts some people, but lets be serious...our governments top priorities are on bombing the hell outta some country on the other side of this planet when there are starving families that barely get by from day to day. The government should concentrate on healthcare and childrens' education. Moore is just opening our eyes to how messed up our governments priorities are and how it's putting fear into every american in this country. How could you watch the president of the NRA show no sympathy whatsoever for the 6 year old girl that was shot by a gun at school and not get pissed at him for that?!? Maybe I actually have a heart with a concience, but some people need to open their eyes to what is going on in this country. And not all people of america are gun happy assholes...there are many great people in america and they just don't see those people. It's the government and gun-loving idiot who are screwing many people over.
Alicia gave it a4:
Sooooooooooooooo overrated! Surprisingly I did enjoy parts, but only after I began to approach the 'documentary' as an entirely fictional movie. I'm an Aussie and we all 'hate' Americans but i was under the impression that they're all fiercely patriotic. Michael Moore attacks his country and its institutions in a desperate attempt to be scandalous and get people to watch bowling for columbine. How could he use a tragedy like this? And even more importantly how could he receive awards for fictitious events in the category of documentary?
Riren gave it a3:
Bowling For Columbine is an example of a sad and increasingly popular trend in documentary: to no longer inform, but to program. Like most sensationalist works, it goes for the emotional reaction instead of the logical. It's very good at stirring up a cloud of feelings whenever it's logic is weak and might be criticized by a thinking audience. It preys on factual confusion and cynicism to paint an anti-patriotic picture, something done much more thoroughly and intelligently in other mediums such as the books of Noam Chomsky. But where you could argue with Chomsky's writing, Moore's theatrics are unrelenting - rather than let you disagree, he will coyly pretend he wasn't making that point, throw something at you so that you are too uncomfortable to respond, and change the subject so that you won't have the chance to think things through. Moore has made a great contribution to turning documentary into the next great form of propaganda. The only thing he has to be proud of is how many millions of dollars he has duped audiences out of in doing it. Please, if you want to educate yourself on the great problems facing modern society, read a book. Leave this documentary to the liberals who, like a quire, relish in being preached at my their own congregation.
Ginger O. gave it an8:
Whether we like Michael Moore or not, I believe it is important to understand and take into account that his documentary “Bowling for Columbine” conveys a very important issue here in the United States. Overall, the terrible tragedy speaks to a wider range of cultural concerns already present in this country. And by this I’m referring to the issues of gun control and violent influential media. Although I do believe that the essential element of “credibility” is important when analyzing a documentary, I don’t think that any of the statistics could’ve changed or further supported my opinion of the cause in the tragedy at Columbine High school. It doesn’t take many relative statistics, to understand that the United States has a big problem in their hands. This is what makes Moore’s documentary so appealing to us as an audience. It is because we are able to recognize and sympathize with this issue that we somehow continue to watch through the documentary. But on the other hand I also understand the degree to which Moore altered these scenes to his advantage. All I Can say to that matter is that his technique does prove effective. I believe it conveys a lot of important aspects we as a society must re-consider.
amurabi m. gave it an8:
Hilarious, funny, entertaining, thoughtful, universal & extremely controversial but the best documentary ever.
