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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
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
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
66
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.
Proof of Life

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 12 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Tony Gilroy
William Prochnau (article Adventures in the Ransom Trade)
Thomas Hargrove (book The Long March To Freedom)
Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 8, 2000
DVD: June 19, 2001
Running Time: 135 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for violence, language and some drug material.
Starring Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, David Caruso, Pamela Reed, Anthony Heald, Stanley Anderson, and Gottfried John
Peter Bowman (Morse), an American engineer in a Latin American country, is kidnapped for a $3 million dollar ransom. Abandoned by her husband's employer and insurance company, his wife Alice (Ryan) refuses to give up on his life. She takes on the task of bringing him home but quickly realizes she can't do that without help. An expert in "K & R" (Kidnap & Ransom), Terry Thorne (Crowe) is Alice's best and only hope for saving Peter. (Warner Bros.)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Against All Odds An Officer and a Gentleman Devil's Advocate Dolores Claiborne Ray White Nights
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio 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...
Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
The movie delivers on its own terms. It may emerge a bit bruised and tattered around the edges, but its ever-beating heart provides the ultimate Proof of Life.
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Fortunately, this film doesn't have to depend on off-screen dalliances to prove its worth.
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Proof of Life won't hold your heart hostage for very long after it's over, but here's looking at Russell Crowe -- he's the real deal, sweetheart.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Whatever romantic tension the film has is communicated in the coiled-spring performance by Crowe, one of the most remarkable actors working.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Disappointingly routine kidnapping thriller with soap-opera trimmings.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
It's never enough of a grabber to keep the mind from wandering to the romance it apparently sparked.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The romantic subtext of their characters' relationship is the film's chief liability, and feels forced and undeveloped.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I was interested all through the movie--interested, but not riveted. I cared, but not quite enough.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Against the lush backdrop of the Andes, Crowe and Caruso define on-screen cool: good guys in a match of wits and firepower who even talk about their emotions.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
His (Crowe) emotionally charged performance stands in contrast to Ryan's annoying, movie-star turn.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Exactly the sort of good bad movie that Hollywood does best -- it's big, worthless fun.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
When it's dull, which it is too often for a kidnap caper, this movie is about a woman chirping ''notice anything new about my outfit?'' to a man whose idea of style is a jacket not crusted in human blood.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
An ambitious film that aims to examine the human equations behind the abductions. But for all its good intentions, it's not as subtle as it might be, and it's finally pitched too broadly to achieve the level of emotional truth it aims for.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
In Proof of Life it's the same old story, a fight for love and glory, except that time goes by . . . slowwwwly.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Crowe gets to use his real Aussie voice, which works better with that poker face, and his underplaying at times has a psychotic intensity. But Ryan looks dopey when she's supposed to be stressed-out.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Morse and Caruso provide better reasons to see this film than do Ryan and Crowe.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
This slick, handsomely produced thriller only gets the pulse half racing.
The New York Times Stephen Holden
What ultimately sinks this stylish but heartless film is a flat lead performance by the eternally snippy Meg Ryan.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Michael Sragow
Everything about Proof of Life is intriguing and a little off.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
A disappointingly routine thriller that prefers to lean on tired Hollywood conventions rather than to explore fresh dramatic and stylistic territory.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Slim pickings.
Film.com Gemma Files
This is half a good movie held hostage to the other, trashier half, and unfortunately for all of us, no rescue seems forthcoming.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
It's Rambo with a split hero -- Morse absorbing punishment and Crowe wreaking vengeance.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A hostage drama without any tension. It is a love story without any heat. It is as curiously empty a movie as we've seen all year.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
A hostage drama that oscillates between soap opera and action flick.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Proof of Life isn't a movie. It's an overpriced scrapbook.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Proof of Life kidnaps the audience, then tortures it to a slow death
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
[Anonymous] gave it a7:
I wasn't impressed or dissapointed. It showed the cruelty of those Guerilla camps. Unfortunately, all the negotating ultimately led up to a hollywood breakout scene. Luckily, that scenes is well done and exciting, and you get to see some well deserved revenge.
Bob gave it a 0:
This movie SUCKED. It's overlong, unconvincing, the plotline is weak, and a waste of two hours of my time.
Pat C. gave it a 6:
Beautiful location, great stars, lots of action. Romantic situation handled like real people would (or should). Or maybe they knew they'd get bored with each other if they continued. Action-wise, if Jack Lemmon in "Missing" had been Rambo, this would have been the result. But the movie also has a bad smell, a hint of Formula. Not quite sure where it's coming from, but it makes the movie drag.
Ryan M. gave it a 8:
A sly get-the-husband-whoops-ive-already-fallen-for-another-guy flick. But it does it's part.
Sal Q. gave it a 6:
A good movie, that's well acted. The...ending was a little unbelievable. (Ed: Potential spoiler omitted)
Thomas B. gave it a 10:
This movie touched me. The acting was great but don't take me wrong this is not a comedy. It's a suspense/thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and the one thing that I loved was this movie told me deep down inside of me that i will find my dad one day. So in conclusion, this is a great movie. It was so good I have seen it 7 times!
