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Amores Perros
Lions Gate Films

Amores Perros reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 83 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.4 out of 10
based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 36 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not rated

Starring Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, Álvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, and Jorge Salinas

A bold, intensely emotional, and ambitious story of lives that collide in a Mexico City car crash. (Lion Gate Films)


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Guillermo Arriaga  
DIRECTED BY: Alejandro González Iñárritu  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: September 25, 2001 
Video: September 25, 2001 
Theatrical: March 30, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 153 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Mexico 
LANGUAGE(S): Spanish (with English subtitles) 

The title translates as "Love's a Bitch." It received a 2001 Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and picked up awards at numerous film festivals in 2000 (including the Cannes Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Chicago International Film Festival).

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A stunner: a fiercely brilliant film of such wrenching impact, nonstop drive and unpredictability that watching it becomes an exhilarating ride.
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100
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Fierce, loving, and electric, this movie's got bite as well as bark.
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100
Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan
An overpowering and original piece of bravura filmmaking that constitutes one of the most breathtaking and impressive directing debuts in years.
100
San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris
There's a seething moral core in Amores Perros that uses the canine savagery as an entre to human brutality.
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100
Time Richard Schickel
As fine--hard, soft, approachable--as any in movie history.
100
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
One of the great films of our time, or any other.
100
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Has the feel of an instant classic, a melodrama with an exacting precision and a visceral, propulsive energy.
90
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
It's a film of high energy, punctuated by rock music and a dark wit, yet it is capable of profound reflection and tragic irony.
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90
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
It's a truly prodigious piece of work, resembling a career summation far more than a maiden voyage.
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90
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Anguish ranges from gritty and realistic to the tragicomic soap opera found in Pedro Almodovar's films.
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90
New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer
A film of tremendous complexity and depth, a galvanic force that sends the mind reeling.
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90
Film.com Peter Brunette
The titillating sense of out-of-controlness provoked by the camera is echoed in the film's narrative situations, and you simply, and deliciously, haven't a clue as to what he's going to throw at you next.
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90
Slate David Edelstein
The most enthralling movie of the year.
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89
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
For those willing to submit to its terrible charms, it may be the single most important debut to come out of the Americas in years.
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88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Amores Perros will be too much for some filmgoers, just as "Pulp Fiction" was and "Santa Sangre" certainly was, but it contains the spark of inspiration.
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88
Boston Globe Jay Carr
As bloody as any recent film. But it's shot through with a harsh, stony humor that's invigorating enough to be regarded as a slap back at death.
88
USA Today Mike Clark
The gritty, Oscar-nominated "Traffic" is a limo ride compared with the bloodletting in this year's foreign-film nominee from Mexico.
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88
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A headlong pastiche of lower-depth melodrama and absurd black comedy.
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88
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Strong stuff, compelling drama.
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80
The New York Times A.O. Scott
A film in which nothing is what it seems, this is the kind of genre touch that Mr. González Iñárritu expands into something far more haunting.
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80
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A feverish, breathtaking tour through Mexico City high and low, an explosive, mosaic-style portrait of our continent's largest city.
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80
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Though unflinching in its savagery, Amores Perros is always compulsive viewing.
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80
Newsweek David Ansen
He’s (González Iñárritu) conjured up a dark, brutal vision of urban life that sticks to your skin like soot.
75
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
A sophisticated, stylish, fast-moving piece of work.
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Sometimes enticing, frequently savage.
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70
Chicago Reader Barbara Scharres
Solidly engaging.
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70
Variety David Stratton
He (Gonzalez Inarritu) handles a complex plot with clarity and precision while keeping audience members on the edge of their seats.
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60
TV Guide Ken Fox
Often thrilling, if overwhelmingly brutal, trio of interconnected short stories.
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60
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
There's something overly studied, almost clinical, in how it all pulls together.
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50
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Undeniably high-powered. At 153 minutes, it's also punishingly overlong.
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50
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
This isn't a cheerful movie. But director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga tell these stories with authority and verve, making 2½ hours zip by.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Redlight gave it an8:
Although I still feel this movie is great, it's a movie best appreciated when you're watching it for the very first time. On repeated viewings, although it is still great, it just isn't as rewarding. Still, great performances from the cast and brutally realistic.

Matt A. gave it a10:
Easily the best film of 2001, and, as some critics have indicated, one of the finest films of all time. The performances, writing, direction, and choice of music are all flawless. It was sad to see this same filmmaker try to create a similar masterpiece with 21 Grams, and mostly fail. If you didn't like that film, still give this one a chance. It truly is amazing.

J P W gave it a10:
A great movie that catches your attention for all the two-and-a-half hours that it's long. It captures the three sad stories in such a beautiful, melancholic, aesthetic way For me, all the blood and violence is part of that aestheticness. The movie seems to breathe the town, the atmosphere is conveyed great with, the people, upper class and lower. One of the best movies I've ever seen.

Nikola L. gave it a10:
Writer speaks from essantial to embrace absurd. Never saw movie that perfect.

It Is Gilbert Mulroneycakes gave it a 10:
Avert your eyes or press fast-forward during all the dog-fighting bits, or indeed the bits which merely show dogs bleeding copiously. This is Not Nice. But it's a masterpiece - I know it's as glib as all-get-out, but it really is the Mexican Pulp Fiction - partly because it's a similar type of film (the criss-cross structure, the occasional violence, the amoral characters, the earthy, fruity language etc) but also because it's in the same class - which is a good trick if you can do it - and because it's also a startlingly original early work (in this case, debut, in fact - which, is incredible to look at it) by a filmmaker who knows exactly what he wants to do, what he wants to show and what he wants to make and f**k anyone else. Credit where it's due though; unlike QT, Iñárritu didn't write it himself, and Guillermo Arriaga Jórdan deserves credit for keeping all the threads together in a coherent fashion. Not for everyone, mind - for a start its length (two and a half hours, and then some more minutes) will be off-putting for some, for a second the warning below is not a word of a lie - horrible things happen to (presumably pretend) dogs in this film, and you may not be able to stomach it. That said, I'm surprised not to read a single review balling it out for the ihnerently skippable and in no way gratuitous violence yet. Still, those caveats out of the way, Amores Perros is a brutal, mesmerising masterpiece from a filmaker (and screenwriter) who, if there is the remotest amount of justice in this god-forsaken world, will be bigger than curly fries by the end of the decade. Please? Just don't watch it if you have a dog. Or want one. Or know what one looks like. And to avoid fainting, keep repeating, "It's only a movie, it's only a movie." Jolly.

Jeremy gave it a 7:
An good film with some brialliant moments. If Inarritu learned the value of an editor, it might have been more than that.

Santino S. gave it a 9:
For a debut feature, this is a brilliant film. Heavily inspired by "Pulp Fiction,"this is a gritty urban drama about people living on the edge.deserved the oscar for best foreign film.A WARNING THOUGH, DOG LOVERS COULD DIE OF SHOCK WHILE WATCHING THIS ,SO TAKE CARE.

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