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Deterrence

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 0 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Rod Lurie
Directed by: Rod Lurie
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 10, 2000
DVD: August 29, 2000
Running Time: 101 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / France
Summary
RATING: R for language and violence
Starring Kevin Pollak, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Sean Astin
While snowed in at a diner in Colorado during a freak snowstorm, the President (Pollak) of 2006 must deal with an international military crisis.
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...
Mr. Showbiz F. X. Feeney
I've not stopped thinking about it -- weighing might-have-beens and alternative courses of action, as though remembering an actual event rather than a nimble, superbly-realized fantasy. That's a first-rate achievement.
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
A taut, consistently surprising political thriller with a sting in its tail.
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A triumph of low-budget filmmaking.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The kind of movie that leaves you with fundamental objections. But that's after it's over. While it's playing, it's surprisingly good.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
One of the pleasures of Deterrence is that it does not tell the audience what to think.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jim Sullivan
There is a palpable edge-of-the-seat tension and a number of complex ethnic issues that linger after the movie ends.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
A carefully conceived and earnest movie that announces its many points just a bit too carefully and earnestly.
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Lurie undermines his high-wire act with the melodramatic carryings-on of the diner patrons.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Foreigners who argue that Americans are Neanderthal savages can point to this movie as persuasive evidence.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
A tense geopolitical thriller that leaves a curiously bad aftertaste.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Steven Mikulan
Ultimately this is a radio drama made into a movie with a single set.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Probably serves some useful purpose, despite its ham-fisted preachiness and mediocre acting.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
There's nothing super about the movie, aside from a loopiness that affords it a certain guilty-pleasure cachet.
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The setting is cramped and the story is illogical, but it's suspenseful as long as you don't think about it very hard.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Begins and ends with footage of FDR intoning "I hate war," something the film takes two interminable hours to say.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
A new political thriller, has an ending so egregiously stupid that not to reveal it would be a disservice to moviegoers.
Entertainment Weekly Steve Daly
The plot twists fall about as weightily as the fake snow.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
Ludicrously written and appallingly directed by ex-film critic Rod Lurie, seems to pride itself on the fact that it never (ever) leaves the greasy-spoon milieu in which the president and his staff are trapped by heavy snowfall.
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
To say this movie's premise is bonkers is putting it mildly.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
