Falling Down
Falling Down Image
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Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 35 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Barbara Hershey, Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall
  • Summary: A day in the life of a laid-off defense worker, estranged from hiswife and young daughter, and driven beyond frustration in an endless traffic jam. After he abandons his car in the middle of the freeway, he crosses the city on foot, leaving behind him an escalating wake of destruction as his sanity crumbles in the face of contemporary urbanreality. (Warner Bros.)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 21
  3. Negative: 4 out of 21
  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    A few times every year, Hollywood makes a mistake, violates formula and actually makes a great picture. Falling Down is one of the great mistakes of 1993, a film too good and too original to win any Oscars but one bound to be remembered in years to come as a true and ironic statement about life in our time. [26 Feb 1993, p.D1]
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  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Philip Thomas
    80
    While the morality of D-Fens methods are questionable, there's a resonance about his reaction to everyday annoyances, and Michael Douglas' hypnotic performance makes it memorable.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    50
    Slickly directed by Joel Schumacher, who sees that each and every button in this unabashedly manipulative film is pushed hard, Falling Down could have been deeply disturbing if it weren't so cartoony, so determined to glibly escape the moral consequences of the vicarious white-rampage fantasies to which it caters. [26 Feb 1993, p.25]
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  4. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Gene Siskel
    38
    Falling Down is an intellectually sloppy, rebellious working-man adventure film that is little more than a set piece for Michael Douglas playing out a revenge-of-the-nerds fantasy. [26 Feb 1993, p.C]
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See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. IntelligentAndThroughtful
    10
    Phenomenal piece of film-making. The only ones who think this movie is over analyzed are the people who don't understand its depth. How about all of the reviews by white people starting off saying it's a scape-goating white angst revenge film. Supposing that a white man, unlike a black or hispanic man; would have nothing to be angry about in the first place. Typical BS. The only thing more amazing than this film is the fact that it was allowed to be made in hollywood. Those were the good 'ol days!… Collapse
  2. grandpajoe6191
    8
    The movie's symbolism and allegory throughout the entire time was too obvious and prominent. However, its still a unpredictable but effective classic that possibly is Joel Schumacher's best film he directed (and also the last one too).… Expand
  3. ERG1008
    7
    Man gets stuck in traffic jam, wants to go home, gets out of car & starts walking, has day from hell.
    One of Michael Douglas's best performanc    es as the ordinary man turned bad, Bill Foster, in this very watchable Joel Schumacher film.
    Lots of memorable scenes & dialogue backed up with a great supporting cast including a very distrubing Frederic Forest as the army store owner.    … Expand
  4. Stephen
    1
    How this film got such a high metacritic score is beyond me. On a superficial level, it's a story of a white male who has seemingly been driven into violence by a corroding American society. Dig a little deeper and you discover the sub-plot of white angst; a theme that gives justification to the the protagonists misdeeds, using minorities (and their dissolving of American norms and values) as its scapegoat. The director obviously wishes for the viewer to sympathize with his maniacal main character. Unfortunately, unless you believe in Manifest Destiny and the White Man's burden (which I'm afraid a good numbers of Americans do), all you'll see is a shallow movie attempting to make something out of nothing.… Expand

See all 10 User Reviews

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