The Life of David Gale Critic Reviews

The picture is neither flawless nor foolproof, but it's smart and tight enough to keep audiences off-balance and entertained for the running length. Read the full review

As I've implied, this is a great midnight movie: I enjoyed every patchily edited, ham-fisted scene. But I don't like seeing the wonderful Kate Winslet look stupid, or the wonderful Laura Linney abase herself.Read the full review

Soon, the audience feels its own sense of despair -- for a movie that might have worked but didn't. Read the full review

By the end, it reveals itself as too pat, too absurd and -- as a polemic against capital punishment -- philosophically self- defeating. Read the full review

A shock ending may be the best hope for this film, a convoluted mystery that thinks it's way smarter than it is. Read the full review

Punches the expected buttons without being entirely convincing.Read the full review

A self-righteous mishmash that can't decide whether to be a tribute to the fanatical leftist passion that thrives in college towns, an indictment of that very same fanaticism, or a ghoulishly didactic snuff-video thriller.Read the full review

Frankly, the film's real surprise is that it doesn't collapse under the weight of its sanctimonious posturing and howling pretension. The film is crammed with high-cultural references and people playing "smart," but none of it adds up.Read the full review

Tries to show it has its heart in the right place, but it's such a crude undertaking that it doesn't actually seem to have a heart at all. Read the full review