The Life of David Gale
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 60 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 60
  3. Negative: 11 out of 60

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  1. RC
    Sep 10, 2003
    0
    Nothing but trash!
  2. LuigiA.
    Mar 10, 2003
    0
    What was this movie? Ranks right down there with the worst ever made. Pass-a-dena!
  3. RandyC.
    Sep 10, 2003
    0
    This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The movie is nothing but a big pile of liberal bias promoting an ideology of doing wrong to further their agenda. ?Wake up America,? the liberals are destroying or beautiful country.
  4. TaylorG.
    Feb 21, 2003
    0
    The plot is nonsensical, inane and cliched.
  5. DanB.
    Mar 1, 2003
    3
    The film wholeheartedly shirks even the semblance of discussion. While Gale (Spacey) and Hallaway (Linney) stand ready to shove well-worn statistics into the film?s every crevice (which might leave you wishing you could do the same), screenwriter Charles Randolph provides not even one character in disagreement. Bitsey (Winslet), for her part, doubts Gale?s innocence but never his convictions. Despite being a hard, opinionated newswoman, she seems to have no thoughts on the issue at all. The only scene which offers any sort of counterpoint comes in the form of a televised debate between Gale and the governor of Texas, during which Randolph pulls out all the creative stops: not only does Gale ? the ?towering intellectual?, the ?original voice? ? quote Gandhi?s now more annoying than effective eye for an eye line, but when he fools the governor into endorsing a Hitler quote, he is lifting a debating tactic from none other than Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek VI ? rent it to see for yourself, it?s better than this movie anyway).… Expand
  6. CarrieP.
    Mar 13, 2003
    0
    I just got back from the movie theatre, so it's pretty fresh in my mind... bad storytelling. I usually love Kevin Spacey, but even he couldn't save this movie from it self. His character was so inconsistant that by the end of the movie I couldn't tell if it was for or against the death penelty. The attempt at suspense felt more like discomfort because so many things about the plot and the characters were unclear. That was about two hours of my life that I'll never get back.… Collapse
  7. Gabe
    Feb 22, 2003
    0
    This movie has no plot and it sucks #$%.
  8. JohnE.
    Feb 24, 2003
    0
    Bad, just bad... you don't even know who he supposedly killed until there's 45 min remaining in the movie.
  9. TheGilbertMulroneycakesEvent
    Mar 21, 2003
    4
    Elizabeth: bless you, I wish more of the filmgoing public thought like you, and had the ability to enjoy something on its own terms. But. This movie WAS trying to accomplish some great feat, or at least, it said it was. The problem is it doesn't seem to be trying very hard. It's a decent enough thriller, but the script lets it down enormously. I'll cut Randolph a break for being a newbie, but not for the cop-out ending, which won't be revealed here lest I incur the Wrath Of Ed (rumble of thunder), but I will say this: it undermines everything that the film wants to say about capital punishment, and indeed it undermines the very ACT of saying ANYTHING about it by transparently playing for the audience's benefit, rather than the movie's. There's nothing wrong with playing for the audience, IF you set your stall out as that kind of thing immediately. But Gale tries to be two things at once. And fails. And is therefore a waste of a great cast: the Space, the Lett and the Linn, all great, yet all foundering. Ultimately, Gale is worth your time if your brain's switched off, but it could have been, should have been, and in fact thinks it is, so very much more. Sorry, Elizabeth.… Expand
  10. W.ChristopherH.
    Jul 22, 2004
    0
    I saw this movie some time ago, and everytime I overhear somebody in the video store say: "Have you seen this? It's sooo good!" I want to say the most insulting thing possible to that person about his or her lack of taste and judgement. I restrain myself, however, and the reason I do is because the film condemns any attempt on your part to question its logic. It speaks from a self-righteous standpoint that seems unassailable to those who, as yet, have no convictions of their own which is the vast majority of the viewing public. Personally I am against the death penalty as well, but this film sends a disgusting message and poses that violent extremism is legitimate when it is for a cause. I was appalled by this movie and found it a pretentious, divisive, and completely unproductive approach to discussing capital punishment. … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
31 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 36
  3. Negative: 15 out of 36
  1. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    10
    Another tediously sanctimonious message movie from Alan Parker.
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  2. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    50
    A shock ending may be the best hope for this film, a convoluted mystery that thinks it's way smarter than it is.
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  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    40
    The film's greatest asset is Linney, whose prickly, finely calibrated performance as the doomed Harraway makes her loss resonate more powerfully than any of the point-counterpoint rhetoric.
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