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Veronica Guerin
Buena Vista Pictures


6.6

based on 33 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for violence, language and some drug content

Starring Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, Ciarán Hinds, Brenda Fricker, Don Wycherley, Barry Barnes, Simon O'Driscoll, and Emmet Bergin

Based on a true story, this powerful, emotional film gives unique insight into a fascinating and complex aspect of the Irish conflict and a poignant portrayal of a journalist (Blanchett) who risked her life in search of the truth. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Crime \| Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Carol Doyle (also story) Mary Agnes Donoghue
DIRECTED BY:	Joel Schumacher
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 16, 2004 Video: March 16, 2004 Theatrical: October 17, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	92 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Ireland / UK

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...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Her death was shocking; this well-made telling of her life is inspiring.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Blanchett is, warts-and-all, letter perfect.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

For once, it's no stretch for Jerry Bruckheimer to turn a human life into an action movie. Give or take a pack of screaming clichés in Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue's screenplay, Joel Schumacher's propulsive thriller is also a smart character study, with Cate Blanchett as the jewel in its crown.

The Hollywood Reporter Mark Adams

A luminous performance from Cate Blanchett lies at the heart of Joel Schumacher's impressive drama.

Time Richard Corliss

Veronica Guerin paid with her life. This film would make her proud, for it is ultimately not depressing but -- we say without a shred of journalistic irony -- inspiring.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For the most part, this is a memorable portrayal of a woman who doggedly pursued, and died for, an ideal.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

I can't imagine a better actress for this part than Australian-born Cate Blanchett. Blanchett, who can be regal ("Elizabeth") or slutty ("The Shipping News"), manages to catch the feel of Guerin.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Vigorously directed by Joel Schumacher, the film is closer to a suspense thriller than a journalistic report.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Cate Blanchett plays Guerin in a way that fascinated me for reasons the movie probably did not intend.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An arresting portrait of a fascinating and somewhat mysterious personality.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

Does a respectable job of showing how a journalist constructs a story, the small exchanges, endless wheedling and occasional veiled threat. But most of all, it captures an impressive performance from Blanchett.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It’s hard to say what makes Veronica Guerin feel so distant and uninspiring. Maybe, it’s just as conventional wisdom has always said: Journalism is a dull and tedious business to put on the screen.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Speaking of that deadly finale, it's easily the best part of the picture. Beautifully edited, shot in fluid slow-motion, scored to a traditional Irish ballad crooned in a child's tremulous voice, the violence of the climax is anthemic. The whole sequence is undeniably moving.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Made gripping almost single-handedly by Blanchett's superlative performance.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The movie portrays Guerin -- regarded by many as a hero -- as an irritating figure.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Glorifies its subject without quite knowing what to make of her. There's no question, though, about Ms. Blanchett in the title role. When she's on screen, the Fourth Estate flourishes.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Blanchett's insouciant but steely performance alone makes the film worth watching, but it's Brenda Fricker's quietly underplayed turn as Guerin's mother that makes your throat tighten.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Well-meaning but simpleminded biopic.

Variety Derek Elley

The supporting perfs provide the real drama, especially Hinds' excellent turn as the outwardly macho but inwardly broken Traynor, and McSorley's simmering portrayal of the psychotic Gilligan

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

While the movie is indeed touching and very politically significant, there's something peculiar about never learning exactly what made ace reporter Guerin so intensely obsessive about this topic.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

A pre-programmed mediocrity, a slave to its clichés.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

A character as psychologically complex as Guerin -- whose drive may not have been fully comprehensible even to herself -- needs a lot of room to expand on screen. Schumacher and Bruckheimer box her in.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Too bad the movie was assembled by Hollywood types -- Joel Schumacher directed, Jerry Bruckheimer produced -- who like to have things 15 ways at once. Hollywood types don't like journalists, so while they're lionizing Guerin, they go out of their way to make almost every other journalist depicted in the picture despicable.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Cate Blanchett is the spark that keeps this well-meaning but by-the-numbers biopic going.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Schumacher's crude bio-drama never comes close to asking the real questions.

The New Yorker David Denby

Apart from Blanchett's performance, Veronica Guerin is not very interesting. The movie offers a brainless Hollywood version of investigative journalism. [10 November 2003, p. 129]

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Veronica Guerin hardly trusts you to follow its story, opening with the murder, then a series of titles that explain what's to follow.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Manages to tell the story in generally taut, credible fashion, rising frequently on the strength of a gallery of fine performances even when the screenwriting becomes ordinary and Schumacher's touch becomes, as so often, crude and obvious.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The real Guerin deserves a more complete cinematic tribute.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

What's especially disheartening is the large gap between what's on the screen and the significant, meaningful work its creators sincerely believe they've made.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The end titles and the ones that introduce Veronica Guerin...are the most informative parts of the film, and also the most powerful. What comes between them is a flat-footed, overwrought crusader-against-evil melodrama, in which Ms. Blanchett's formidable gifts as an actress are reduced to a haircut and an accent.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

In a movie whose texture is supposed to be hard-edged realism, the characterization seems a little too pat and jaunty.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

An example of Hollywood schlock from the team of Joel Schumacher (director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (producer) that lacks the faintest trace of imagination or genuine feeling.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chelsea gave it a 10:
I think this movie is very powerfull. It shows when people are driven to do something, they do it. Even if it costs them their life.

Greg T. gave it a 7:
This is a well acted film and Cate again did a brilliant job. This film is based on fact. It is certainly not dull. What is amazing is that Ireland, with a population of only 3,700,000 has so many whores and so many druggies.

Shootsy gave it a 0:
Say...who is she already?! Anyway I've never heard of her in the real life so how would a movie directed by J.S. and produced by J.B. like this one be of any interest. CRAP!

Chad S. gave it a 5:
Watching self-serving journalists like Geraldo Rivera, unfortunately, has made us all cynical of newspaper/television reporting, so when Blanchette(as Guerin) says, "But if you could see the children," apart from being a very cliched piece of writing, you wonder if this woman loved being a celebrity, as well as a crusader of justice. Her bravery, however, can't be denied, and her story, you would think is enough to engross us, but Schumacher too often breaks away from the story's meat, Guerin's work as an investigative reporter, to show us the drug dealers at work. "Veronica Guerin" needs to be told in a docu-drama style. Hollywood doesn't belong in Ireland, or in Guerin's car when she is gunned down. Schumacher seems more fascinated by Guerin dead, than alive. Her funeral will remind you of Fox news, since they like to score tragic events with a sad song.

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Veronica Guerin Buena Vista Pictures

Veronica Guerin
Buena Vista Pictures