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Down to the Bone
Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    100
    The film is so pitch perfect and realistic, it seems you are there with these people, watching their lives unfold before you as it happens.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    100
    Down to the Bone achieves what only the best independent films have: making life, at its most unvarnished, a journey.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    90
    Down to the Bone emerges with an aura of authenticity so strong as to be mesmerizing, thanks to a superior script brought to life with infallibly natural performances.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    80
    Quietly devastating.
  5. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    If there were an ounce of taste left in Hollywood, the magnificent Vera Farmiga would be a front-runner for the Best Actress Oscar.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    75
    Writer-director Debra Granik has found a star, and wisely builds every scene around Farmiga's character.
  7. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    75
    A quietly harrowing chronicle of addiction and fragile recovery anchored by Vera Farmiga's intense performance.
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    70
    This is a performance without the histrionics and emotional outbursts that accompany most portrayals of addiction. This feels closer to the truth.
  9. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Pete Vonder Haar
    70
    Strong performances from Vera Farmiga and Hugh Dillon keep things from becoming overdramatic.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Laura Sinagra
    70
    Like Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen," this film has an ear for the way moms talk to kids, a sensitivity to drug-sweetened intimacies, and an appreciation of the urgent nuance, not just the comedy, of recovery-speak.
  11. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Van Gelder
    70
    The kind of movie most independent films strive in vain to be: a small, beautifully faceted gem.
  12. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    70
    First-time feature director's disciplined objectivity is coupled with humanism in this collaboration with a gifted cast and cinematographer. The artistic success, though, may be a bit too cool.
  13. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    63
    Farmiga is excellent as a woman who is like the mouse she feeds to her son's pet snake - trapped and about to be eaten alive by ordinary circumstance.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. RobertB.
    3
    Not much new from this entry into the druggie genre. Slow and lacking in revelation, though you do get the sqeamish feeling of watching people trash their lives.… Full Review »
  2. ChadS.
    7
    "Down to the Bone" differs slightly from other films in how it depicts the drug-addled junkie. Irene (Vera Farmiga) is hooked, but she's functional. She has a job and her children are remarkably well-adjusted. In movies like "Down to the Bone", you sort of know the drill; the addict hits rock bottom and then he/she enters rehab. But this film is more nuanced, less sensationalistic about addiction. Vera never pulls a Uncle Ned ("I hit Alex!"), or makes a spectacle of herself in a public arena. Entering rehab isn't how this film climaxes. "Down to the Bone" is about an addict who's in and out of twelve-step programs, which means we have to watch Vera in encounter groups and other drug recovery-related activities, not one time, but twice. Dramatically, that's a problem.… Full Review »
  3. ChristopherH.
    10
    I caught this one last night and was completely blown away by this film. There was so much verisimilitude I thought I was watching a documentary. This film nails it, addiction, blue collar people, small time life. A real sleeper.… Full Review »
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