21 Grams
Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 41
  3. Negative: 5 out of 41
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  1. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    30
    It’s forceful, to be sure, but in a lurid way that suggests a telenovela that’s been baking in the sun too long.
  2. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    30
    Where "Amores Perros" was a feast of energy, wit and imagination, 21 Grams is like a starvation diet -- a movie that wallows so profoundly in its own misery that watching it is like atoning for some sin you didn't commit.
  3. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    30
    As usual with Penn, I don't completely buy the character, but I completely buy that he has brilliantly internalized SOMETHING. He goes to some weird psychological places, our Sean.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    It's so laden with foreboding, you want to get out from under it and gasp for air.
  5. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    30
    The kind of bad movie that makes a reviewer feel terrible. It has been put together with great sincerity, and yet, impassioned and affecting as some of it is, 21 Grams is also an arrogant failure. [24 November 2003, p. 113]
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 140 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 59
  3. Negative: 9 out of 59
  1. ryancarroll88
    7
    Between "Amores Perros," "Babel" and this movie, Gonzalez Inarritu has produced some of the heaviest dramas of the past 10 years. Perhaps it is because they all deal with such shattered characters - in this case we are given a man who has just undergone heart replacement surgery which temporarily alleviates the strain ...between him and his separated wife, a born-again man who suddenly finds himself responsible for running over and killing a husband and two girls and the woman who has lost her whole family in that car accident. Each of these characters are faced with the idea of moving on with their lives; as we watch them adjust, we see that the difficulty isn't overcoming the past - it's the realization that they don't even understand what their lives are anymore. The serious performances from the three leads (Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Naomi Watts) are really what give the film its depth, and even make up for Inarritu's completely unnecessary nonlinear style, which seems to serve no purpose other than to make the viewer pay more attention.… Full Review »
  2. caporegime
    3
    So trying hard to make things complicated and ending up making this film boring enough to doze of my adrenalin of caffeine.
  3. IsaacC.
    6
    Arguably the best film of 2004. Benicio Del Toro as usual acts the socks of everyone else around him. Although the story is far too conveniently artistic to ever be considered as anything resembling any kind of reality it grips you and shakes violently from start to finish. My one grievance with this film is that although the rewards for those who are patient enough to accept the initially incomprehensible first half hour on good faith are great, on second and third viewing the film becomes slow, the tension is gone and the story becomes trite. As someone who continuously re-watches my favourite films with little or no loss of enjoyment I am left with one question: Is a film worth watching if you can only see it once?… Full Review »
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