Peaceful Warrior
Metascore
40 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 23
  3. Negative: 9 out of 23
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  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    70
    Strong performances by Scott Mechlowicz as Millman and Nick Nolte as the mysterious mechanic who changes his life ground the film in effective drama.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    Sometimes in an imperfect movie there is consolation simply in regarding the actors.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    63
    The result is something close to a textbook example of how NOT to visualize spiritual principles of the "be here now" variety.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Brown
    58
    In the ranks of improbable gymnastics coaches, Nick Nolte falls just below the cartoon version of Mr. T.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    58
    Cult-favorite director Victor Salva ("Jeepers Creepers" I & II) is a competent visual storyteller and the film believes in itself so strongly (and with such a straight face) that it's hard not to halfway enjoy it.
  6. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    50
    The film is better than it has any right to be, considering the prosaic source.
  7. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    50
    Above all, there's Nolte, who hovers over the whole production like some sapient force of nature.
  8. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    50
    You might be better off reading the book and imagining Nolte as Socrates.
  9. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    50
    Mere recitation of homilies for better living -- which is what Nick Nolte's gas station guru imparts to a struggling young gymnast -- and a half-baked account of the athlete's comeback are no substitutes for a complete movie.
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    50
    All this stuff is probably right. It's just that the director, Victor Salva, underscores his points with thunderous obviousness and manipulates us through ham-handed plot gambits.
  11. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Watchable exercise in Zen hokum.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    42
    The "What The Bleep Do We Know?" crowd may well receive the film's wisdom like communion, but the rest of us are free to gag when Salva tries to jam it down our throats.
  13. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    40
    You'd have to be either an avid New Ager or willing to see Nick Nolte in absolutely anything to get fully onboard for this visually overexcited tale of salvation-by-gas-station-guru.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    40
    For all its manifest corniness, this is an achingly sincere and supremely unembarrassed effort to transform an audience for the good. Its heart is very much in the right place - a place that movies all but ignore - but its mind is a mush.
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    38
    The cast is quite good. But Peaceful Warrior, which is basically "The Karate Kid" with a bigger kid and a bigger mentor, represents a journey of predictability, rather than a destination worth the trouble.
  16. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    38
    By the end of the film's two-hour stream of Be-Here-Now-isms, anyone left in the audience will be wanting to yell, "Put a sock in it!" to old Soc.
  17. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    The film's biggest miracle is the straight face Nick Nolte maintains in his role as Socrates.
  18. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    38
    The intriguing thing about The Peaceful Warrior is that nothing else in the movie feels haphazard.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    30
    The sage-elder/wayward-charge saga Peaceful Warrior aims for inspirational highs but mostly feels like a self-help book read aloud by actors.
  20. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    25
    One of those blessedly rare films based on a self-help book, is remarkable in one sense: It prevents "The Lake House" and its magical mailbox from being the most ridiculous concept on screen this summer.
  21. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    25
    Tries to be "The Karate Kid" of gymnastics. It looks more like "The Karate Kid" as imagined by Details magazine.
  22. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    25
    This woozily uplifting saga is big on homilies and deficient in just about everything else.
  23. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    25
    Peaceful Warrior fails pitifully at being transcendent. This New Age movie about living in the moment gets you looking at your watch and squirming in your seat.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 18
  3. Negative: 3 out of 18
  1. SuzieG.
    10
    This is an amazing movie. It really changed my perspective of things.
  2. BrianY.
    10
    I think sometimes we are bored because many people go to get away from thinking at the movies.
  3. Statikdog
    1
    Are you guys on crack?!......This is truly a steaming turd. Like an afterschool special only a little goofier.
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