Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Paranoid Park
Paranoid Park Image
See the trailer
Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 27 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 59 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
Rate this:
  • Starring: Daniel Liu, Gabe Nevins, Taylor Momsen
  • Summary: An unsolved murder at Portland's infamous Paranoid Park brings detectives to a local high school, propelling a young skater into a moral odyssey in which he must not only deal with the pain and disconnect of adolescence but also the consequences of his own actions. As director of "My Own Private Idaho", "Good Will Hunting", "To Die For", and "Elephant", Gus Van Sant has created some of the most memorable works about youth ever committed to film. At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, he was awarded the 60th Anniversary Prize for Paranoid Park, which is largely considered one of his finest films. (IFC First Take)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    100
    Appropriately structured like a ride on skateboard: It swoops back and forth in time, hovers in midair, twists back on itself over and over again, then rolls into silence.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    100
    The pleasing circularity of Gus Van Sant's masterful Paranoid Park is not only a function of the film's narrative structure but reflects the arc of its maker's career. Few directors have revisited their earliest concerns with such vigor.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    60
    The chief triumph here, it seems to me though, is one of style over substance. The disaffected kids who shuffle through its universe have nothing to say, nothing to tell us. I'm not sure the movie has a whole lot more.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 33
  3. Negative: 13 out of 33
  1. Z.Wyatt
    10
    This was just spectacular film-making. Intimate, claustrophobic. Pure tone throughout.
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. SeanQ
    4
    I didn't feel like I had gained anything in watching this movie. There was no 'fresh' perspective for me, no insight, no humour, no lesson. Yep, life has a way of going really bad really fast sometimes and we live with the consequences of our actions for the rest of our lives. And teenagers are all shallow and angsty about sex 'n stuff. While it's not a bad movie, it's definitely not a great movie either. I think people are being fooled by the seriousness of the subject matter, a shocking scene, and some nice camerawork. Otherwise, it's just dull. This one will fade to black before many other movies do.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. SeanS.
    2
    In addition to the worst of Gus Van Sant's masturbatory indulgences, "Paranoid Park" also features a shockingly inept cast, including two girls who can't stop looking at the camera. I don't care that these kids were, with the exception of Taylor Momsen, untrained amateurs -- after all, look at what Steven Soderbergh accomplished under similar circumstances with "Bubble." One can hardly call "Paranoid Park" a movie; it's more like a personal tone poem that Van Sant made for himself, and no one else. I wish he would have kept it private. Its only saving grace is the gorgeous photography by Christopher Doyle.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 33 User Reviews

Trailers