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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Thirteen Days
New Line Cinema


8.2

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language

Starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, and Henry Strozier

A dramatization of what took place in the White House as John F. Kennedy (Greenwood) learns the news that Cuba has missiles. The film is seen through the eyes of the Chief of Staff (Costner).

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	David Self Ernest R. May & Philip D. Zelikow (book The Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis)
DIRECTED BY:	Roger Donaldson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 10, 2001 Video: July 10, 2001 Theatrical: December 25, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	145 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Fascinating in its depiction of presidential leadership in action.

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A terrifically engrossing war film in which not a single shot is fired, a movie about shaping events rather than being shaped by them.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A mesmerizingly suspenseful drama.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A big, square, rousing political thriller docudrama.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

An excellent movie about a real-life nail-biter, forcefully acted, true to its period and directed with clarity.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

One of the most exciting American movies about recent political history since, ironically, Oliver Stone's "JFK."

Newsweek David Ansen

Keeps you hanging on every twist and turn of its wilder-than-fiction plot.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

It turns the nerve-fraying Cuban missile crisis into a big pop myth with the grip of a vise.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

A deeply involving and disturbing movie.

USA Today Mike Clark

Once this 2 1/4-hour slow-starter finally finds its rhythm, we're reminded of how gripping policy give-and-take around a long rectangular table can be.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Greenwood, whose range has carried him from the lonely widower of "The Sweet Hereafter" to the creepy husband of "Double Jeopardy," gives a star-making performance.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I call the movie a thriller, even though the outcome is known, because it plays like one: We may know that the world doesn't end, but the players in this drama don't, and it is easy to identify with them.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Plays like a very good TV movie. Short on visual flair and starpower, Thirteen Days is not the definitive story of the Cuban missile crisis, but it's an engrossing historical lesson nonetheless.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Even though the actors are good, their characters stay stock.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The subject is so gripping that you almost forgive the filmmakers for skewing their material in order to keep Costner's pretty face at the center of everything that happens.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Thoroughly gripping.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Dealing with all these crises and decisions gives Thirteen Days a surprising amount of tension and watchability for a story whose outcome we already know.

TNT RoughCut Andy Klein

Greenwood gives a nuanced performance that may be the film's best work, but at times his surface dissimilarities to JFK are jarring.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

A refreshing breakaway from both idolatry and cynicism.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

I much prefer the whacked-out, Dr. Strangelove-ish brand of political-apocalypse film to all this straitlaced you-are-there dramaturgy, which seems a throwback to the early sixties not only in time but in spirit. But what Thirteen Days sets out to do it does admirably.

Time Richard Schickel

The players don't particularly look like their historical models, but they make us feel their life-threatening pain and puzzlement.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A suspenseful breath of fresh air following on the heels of one of the dumbest Hollywood summers in recent memory.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Assiduous, temperate, and a lot more honest about government and politicians than any other Hollywood film of the last few decades, Thirteen Days is nevertheless too little, too late.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A tense and engrossing political thriller.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Reasonably intelligent, well-crafted and dramatically understated.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Like President Kennedy, director Donaldson (who made "No Way Out," another pretty good Washington-seat-of-power thriller) has found a perfect balance of often-opposing forces: between recorded history and the demands of plain old entertainment.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Kevin Costner is suitably flinty in 13 Days, a competent, by-the-numbers recreation of the events surrounding the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This thriller is a lot better than you might expect--especially for a Kevin Costner vehicle.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

The efficiency of his (Donaldson) direction renders the movie somewhat characterless, like a top-rank made-for-TV production.

Film.com Robert Horton

This overdone project dissipates its energy in strange ways (sudden shifts to black-and-white, as though hailing the spirit of Oliver Stone and that other Costner JFK movie), and makes you wish its makers had shown the same restraint the government did during the crisis.

Salon.com Michael Sragow

A thoroughly bland and mediocre movie about the Cuban missile crisis.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Odin D. gave it a 10:
This movie really great.

Anthony G. gave it an 8:
A wonderful movie which keeps you interested throughout its 2 1/2 hour length.

Ted B. gave it an 8:
The storyline, attention to detail, and most of the acting was top rate. The greatest detraction is Costner's attempt at a "Bahston" accent. Fire the dialog coach!

Jack D. gave it a 6:
First Kevin Costner saved baseball..now he saves the world. Is there nothing he can't do (besides act)? Considering that you know the outcome from the start, the movie manages to keep up the suspense level. If you can distinguish the fiction from the fact, it is worth seeing.

Ghet E. gave it a 9:
I found this movie to be both suspensful and entertaining. If you're not a fan of Costner, you will be after watching Thirteen Days.

Bill M. gave it a 7:
Having lived through this time period, the attention to visual detail and the sense of place was nice. The story was mainly good because I knew it had really happened.

Elvis gave it an 8:
Although I am a Richard Nixon fan (he let me meet him on short notice and made me an honrary agent of the law) this film gave me a new respect for the Kennedys and those 13 days. Good Film.

Thirteen Days New Line Cinema

Thirteen Days
New Line Cinema