25th Hour

Name: 25th Hour
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: December 19, 2002
Duration: 135 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Barry Pepper, Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman

2002

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 241 Ratings

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8.3

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8.3	User Score Universal acclaim based on 241 Ratings

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25th Hour

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: December 19, 2002 | R

Starring: Barry Pepper, Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Summary: The story of the last twenty-four hours Monty Brogan (Norton) gets to spend with his two best friends and his girlfriend before he goes to prison for seven years for pushing heroin.

Director: Spike Lee

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 135 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

The result is a film of sadness and power, the first great 21st century movie about a 21st century subject. Read full review

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The movie resonates precisely because it serves as documentary only pretending to be fiction: It's set in a real place recovering from real pain, which Lee makes tangible. Read full review

Wesley Morris

It's deeply stylized, but there's an accompanying patience and gravity that are hard to shake. They're the architecture of a lingering, unsentimental sadness. Read full review

Peter Travers

In a multiplex filled with empty New Year vessels (take that, Kangaroo Jack), this holdover grabs you hard. Read full review

Shawn Levy

An engaging if not riveting film based on David Benioff's adaptation of his own novel. It's not nearly Lee's best picture, and it's guilty of a few wrong turns that only a confident filmmaker could make, but it's assured and, perhaps more importantly, reassuring. Read full review

J. Hoberman

Often feels like a mediocre time-waster, and yet it sticks in the mind. Read full review

Lawrence Toppman

Spike Lee's films have been provocative, blunt, thoughtful, misguided, daring, sentimental, funny, honest and silly. But 25th Hour earns the director two new adjectives: irrelevant and tedious. Read full review

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User Reviews

pabloe.

Oct 23, 2007

This movie got me from the start. The intensity of the human drama is very high, like in a Bergman movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

WalterKovacs

Dec 26, 2017

Some critics say the film runs too long, but I would have it no other way. Rodriguez Puerto makes this film visually stunning with shots and colors not seen in other films. The plot, performances, dialogue, pacing, and story-line are all in perfect order. A must see film for those who love movies.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JoshC

Feb 3, 2007

In the 25th hour, Mr. Lee exercises his prodigious visual talents with unusual restraint, and keeps some of his more confrontational urges in check. Because the movie is so measured, so melodic, its bursts of wild invention, which might otherwise be irritating, are electrifying. The ending, In the 25th hour, Mr. Lee exercises his prodigious visual talents with unusual restraint, and keeps some of his more confrontational urges in check. Because the movie is so measured, so melodic, its bursts of wild invention, which might otherwise be irritating, are electrifying. The ending, narrated by Mr. Cox, is as bittersweet and sincere an evocation of the American dream as I have seen on film in quite some time, acknowledging both the futility of the collective national fantasy and its consoling, resilient power. Almost as touching is a moment when Monty, staring into a men's room mirror, launches into a profane tirade against his fellow New Yorkers (and everyone else). His rage is impressively ecumenical, encompassing blacks, brutal police officers, gays, Osama bin Laden, the rich, the poor and every other ethnic or social type you can think of: all of them put down with ruthless, scabrous precision. The rant recalls a famous sequence in ''Do the Right Thing'' and also Eminem's more recent invocation, in ''White America,'' of ''so much anger aimed/in no particular direction just sprays and sprays.'' But like Eminem's rhymes, Monty's outburst, and the montage that accompanies it, contain tenderness as well as hate. Mr. Lee, an irreplaceable New York filmmaker, understands better than most that the true New Yorker's deep, exasperated and unquenchable love for his city is sometimes best expressed in the language of rage.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

AxeFish

Apr 28, 2013

This certainly isn't a movie that I would want to watch together with friends. Instead of trying to grab your attention with visual-heavy scenes, this movie mainly consists of conversations. It's about a realistic scenario and how the people affected by it are dealing with it. And I reallyThis certainly isn't a movie that I would want to watch together with friends. Instead of trying to grab your attention with visual-heavy scenes, this movie mainly consists of conversations. It's about a realistic scenario and how the people affected by it are dealing with it. And I really like the movie for that. It's different from what I usually watch.
The conversations are also very realistic. There are some scenes that were kind of unnecessary but still blew me away by how these characters talked to each other. A lot of times I thought to my self: "Yea, I could see my self taking part of that conversation." Although the drug mobster is kind of overblown.
I can see why people find this movie boring. It's not for everyone. If you're the type of guy that can sit down for 2 hours and listen to people talk to each other about what they think will happen to them and what they're afraid of instead of them taking part in action scenes, then give this movie a shot. I certainly really enjoyed it.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

lordslayer

Nov 8, 2014

it does bloody grabs you from the start, one of the best first scenes in cinema history if you ask me.

However the mid of the film felt slow to me, was plannin on giving it a 6 but the last scene really redeemed it and got it an extra point. so, really awesome start and perfect ending,it does bloody grabs you from the start, one of the best first scenes in cinema history if you ask me.

However the mid of the film felt slow to me, was plannin on giving it a 6 but the last scene really redeemed it and got it an extra point.

so, really awesome start and perfect ending, if only the journey was as captivating..… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MovieGuys

Jul 14, 2014

25th Hour isn't exactly a bad movie, it's just a pointlessly long, tedious, boring movie. The acting isn't horrible (it isn't great), but the story has a central theme that tries to hard to be meaningful and moral. Also, the editing is choppy and exhausting. By the end, the movie turns into25th Hour isn't exactly a bad movie, it's just a pointlessly long, tedious, boring movie. The acting isn't horrible (it isn't great), but the story has a central theme that tries to hard to be meaningful and moral. Also, the editing is choppy and exhausting. By the end, the movie turns into a preachy melodrama about not giving up on the life you want. Be warned; it's all cheese.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

michaelj32

Feb 25, 2012

weird movie, about some criminal guy and his friends. Just another stupid movie that involves criminals going to jail and **** like that. I am not interested in this LOW LIFE ****

1 of 10 users found this helpful19

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54	#54 Most Discussed Movie of 2002
52	#52 Most Shared Movie of 2002