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The Gatekeeper
Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    70
    Has a certain stiffness and awkwardness at the start, but this deeply personal work steadily grows more powerful and eloquent, creating a tragic vision of the plight of illegal aliens that transcends its melodramatic elements.
  2. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Marta Barber
    63
    Despite its flaws, The Gatekeeper will keep you engaged.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Janice Page
    63
    Isn't the most seductive film ever made about border life or undocumented immigrants, but in a way it's unfair to compare it to such artistic triumphs as ''Touch of Evil,'' ''El Norte,'' ''Lone Star,'' and ''Traffic.''
  4. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    John Carlos Frey's tough social drama has a slightly sensationalistic edge, but the disturbing fact is that all too much of his worthy film hews closely to the real-life experiences of undocumented immigrant workers.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    60
    The same willingness to plunge into luridness and melodrama allows The Gatekeeper to work as a taut suspense film on its shoestring budget.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    60
    Though the film is far from polished, the force of its significance to Mr. Frey, as well as the urgency of its political message, give it some genuine impact.
  7. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    50
    Frey's harrowing depiction of this milieu transcends the indifferent acting and contrived plot.
  8. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    Suffers from Frey’s diluted multitasking. The director, writer, and star are not equally talented.
  9. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Jon Strickland
    50
    Earnest, shoestring indie that makes use of some sharp location shooting and sympathetic performances to rise above its often awkward staging and writing.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Joshua Land
    50
    The DIY approach entails significant limitations, including barely TV-quality visuals and the Seagal-like stiffness of Frey's performance, but the truly hellish portrayal of the workers' post-crossing indentured servitude in a meth lab makes up for a sluggish opening act.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    50
    Actor-turned-director John Carlos Frey, who also stars, knows how to push the right sentimental buttons in what ultimately amounts to a pedestrian actioner, a cliched compendium of Anglo villains and Mexican martyrs.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    40
    Thematically the film starts off like “The Believer,” Henry Bean's 2001 drama about an anti-Semitic Jew, and winds up like “Sullivan's Travels” without the comedy.
  13. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Robert K. Elder
    38
    Is it a political movie? Yes. A movie with strong ideas and issues? Yes. But propaganda with its heart in the right place is still propaganda, and seldom easy to watch.
  14. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    25
    It's a movie you want to like, but its sometimes laughably bad execution makes that difficult.
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