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Bowling for Columbine
United Artists


6.6

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 163 votes
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FILM:

Fahrenheit 9/11

MPAA 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.

GENRE(S):	Documentary
WRITTEN BY:	Michael Moore
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Moore
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 19, 2003 Video: August 19, 2003 Theatrical: October 11, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	120 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada / USA

Named Best Documentary Feature at the 75th Annual Academy Awards and 18th Annual Independent Spirit Awards. Winner, 55th Aniversary Prize, 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Named "Best Documentary of All Time" by the International Documentary Association in 2002. Michael Moore also received a WGA award for Best Original Screenplay.

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...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

Documentary reaches an exalted level of filmmaking. It explains the very fabric of American society.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Moore's best movie, and one of the most blisteringly effective polemics and documentaries ever.

100

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.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

The sparks fly thanks to Moore's patented blend of curveball research, expedient juxtaposition, genuine satire and bottomless chutzpah.

Time Richard Corliss

Rambunctious, disturbing, often hilarious new documentary.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Both hilarious and sorrowful.

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.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Imperfect as it may be, Bowling for Columbine is riveting stuff.

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.

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.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Irreverent, provocative and provoking.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Disturbing, infuriating and often very funny film.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Fun and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Moore provides a rather rambling discourse of causality, which includes racism, white flight and Africanized bees.

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.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The only thing wrong with Bowling for Columbine is Moore himself.

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.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Shallow and one-sided.

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.

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.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

It's poorly structured, a half-hour too long, and devotedly fixated on the filmmaker's persona.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 163 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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.

Ray A. gave it a0:
It"s just moore leftwing BS from M.Moore.

Gabby H. gave it a9:
What a great flick. Not only does it give feeling, it informs us Americans that we actually can be ignorant and we aren't all that we think we are. People who give this movie a low rating are uninformed as to what the situation really is in America right now. We can rebuild this nation in 2008, as soon at Dubya is out of office.

Yoon C. gave it a 0:
Moore is a juvenile idiot and if he wants to filter serious issues thru SNL style antics, oh well. but, when he opportunistically puts on a sickenly self-serving self-righteous teddybear face and mopes as the conscience of mankind, it's about as nauseating as movies and politics get. left-leaning critics, weaned on SNL cynicism and pc self-righteousness themselves, may identify with moore and feel ennobled and justified thru moore's manifesto where noam chomsky meets howard stern. they have no idea how much they've compromised the cause of film as art and politics as serious business.

Bowling for Columbine United Artists

Bowling for Columbine
United Artists