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76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
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53
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66
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45
Box, The
61
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55
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43
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66
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29
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23
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80
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61
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39
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xx
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30
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34
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60
Funny People
32
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27
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41
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39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
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78
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55
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66
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69
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58
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47
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66
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34
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33
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54
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67
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51
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42
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28
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63
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86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
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30
Saw VI
53
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24
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83
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33
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45
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55
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47
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96
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35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
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88
Up![]()
71
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67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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58
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96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
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39
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78
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61
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66
Afterschool
xx
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58
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72
Amreeka
48
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73
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62
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55
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76
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86
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13
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70
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35
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71
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66
Black Dynamite
51
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xx
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76
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35
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26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
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45
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81
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70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
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57
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62
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65
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69
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59
Collapse
44
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82
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75
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82
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67
Departures
xx
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71
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xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
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85
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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
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63
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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
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41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
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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.
Series 7: The Contenders

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 17 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Daniel Minahan
Directed by: Daniel Minahan
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 2, 2001
DVD: December 18, 2001
Running Time: 86 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for strong violent content and language
Starring Marylouise Burke, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael Kaycheck, Brooke Smith, Richard Venture, and Merritt Wever
Portrays the highlights of the seventh season of a reality-based TV show in which six contestants are given guns with the objective to be the last person standing.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database 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...
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Wide-eyed, deadpan and, more often than not, note-perfect.
New York Post Lou Lumenick
The most devastating spoof of reality TV since Albert Brooks' 1978 "Real Life."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A satisfyingly nasty piece of work so black and cruel it's often more sick than funny.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Minahan wants us to see ourselves in the dark mirror of this outrageously funny satire. He's built the laughs wisely so they stick in our throats.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Smith and Fitzgerald are funny, feisty, poignant, and altogether realistic. Will they end up lovers, friends, side-by-side corpses? Their sharp performances make Series 7 as frighteningly addictive as crack, or even "Survivor."
Newsweek Devin Gordon
Whether Series 7, filmed on digital video for less than $1 million, is reactive or prescient doesn’t change the fact that it’s a dead-on parody of the form.
Boston Globe Jay Carr
A gritty, immediate, down-and-dirty satire with a down-and-dirty look.
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Unpretentious and brashly exploitative.
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
As entertainment, such dark material can only stretch so far, and Series 7 comes awfully close to being as numbing as the genre it mocks. But its power can't be denied.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The murder as entertainment premise of Series 7 is proof that even the blackest of humor is no longer particularly outrageous.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert Elder
Series 7 does exactly what independent cinema should -- challenge audiences while it entertains.
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
This gory parody hits television where it hurts -- and draws blood. It will bring joy to the heart of anyone who hates TV.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The movie's mimicry of reality TV clichés is eerie, from the use of re-creations and supplemental footage (especially the experimental video Dawn and Jeff made together for a high school art project) to the smarmy commentary.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
Smith puts the soul in the machine of Series 7, producing an emotional power too real for reality-TV to handle.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The suspense may be fraudulently manufactured but it captivates us nevertheless, and by the end we're reduced to the bloodlusting anonymity of the true culprits in all this jaded junk, and that is the TV audience.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Amy Taubin
Series 7 could have turned out as ugly as the second season of "Survivor," were it not for the pleasure Minahan takes in melodrama.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
It's only fitting that we emerge from Series 7 feeling both entertained and implicated.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
As Series 7 speeds toward its inevitable conclusion, at least the contenders make this downward spiral something to savor.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
There's no avoiding the fact that it's a one-joke movie, 86 minutes in the telling, and without any serious social underpinnings, it grows old pretty fast.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It's not the idea that people will kill each other for entertainment that makes Series 7 jolting. What the movie correctly perceives is that somewhere along the line we've lost all sense of shame in our society.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
An exceptionally glib satire about reality TV, by writer-director Daniel Minahan, that puts most of its effort into looking as much as is possible like a real TV show.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The result is heavy and humorless, despite a smart, skillful performance by Brooke Smith.
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Seems stranded in that nowhereland between irony and sarcasm.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly F. X. Feeney
As with "The Blair Witch Project," one must swallow one's irritation at paying yet again for big-screen video -- but even so, the spectacle of an America falling apart is acutely and hilariously embodied by Dawn.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Getting progressively less involving as it goes along, the strongest feeling Series 7 creates is the passionate desire to change the channel and move on.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
There's less here than meets the eye or ear: We're a long way from Jonathan Swift, and any old episode of "Cops" is bound to be more engrossing, not to mention "real."
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
I felt like dropping to my knees in the theater and praying for this smug, irritating fake-reality-TV show to go away, leaving these three terrific actors (and characters) in something resembling a real movie.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The movie's bright touches belong primarily to Brooke Smith.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
William G. gave it a9:
Even more relevant now than when it was released back in 2001, SERIES 7 is a satire chock-full of realistic violence and a wicked sense of humor. Each character is a fascinating one, from Marylouise Burke as a elderly nurse to Brooke Smith as the pregnant mother and reigning champion. Everything about the show itself is a spot-on parody of reality television. Your reaction to this review will determine whether or not SERIES 7 is your cup of tea. Those disgusted by the plot have been warned. Those mildly intrigued, at the very least, should seek out SERIES 7.
Pål A. gave it a 10:
This movie is very cool, and i really liked it, but its not good for young people to watch this, and get influed by killing....
Mike D. gave it a 9:
An all too real parody of reality TV. Leaves the question begging: is this where our corporate land of late capitalism is leading us? How soon will taboo be overridden by senseless demand? A film that develops thought & leaves a smile on our faces.
Johnny M. gave it a 9:
A superb peice of film making. Good plot, acting, script and directing. One of those films which leaves you a little sheel shocked - a sign of a film trying to convey a message and succeeding. Also interestingly produced by film four, channel four being the home of the most popular reality tv in britain, big brother. Superb film, watch it if u haven't already.
Jim K. gave it a 9:
This movie is very well thought out and presented. I was impressed with it, and then I watched the extras on the DVD, and when you find out what really happened in the theatre at the end, it all pulls into place. It constantly pulls you into its reality while critiquing that reality at the same time. I really want to see the script of this film.
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
Amazing.
Marc D. gave it a 7:
As a reality show junkie, I was pretty fired up to see this film. It definitely has its hillarious moments, although the "story" is a little more contrived than I thought it would be, even for a parody. The "Dawn of the Dead" fan in me enjoyed it more than the "Survivor" fan, though. A little morbid...in only the best of ways, of course!
