Donnie BrascoMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 76 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    One terrific movie... Pacino and Depp are a match made in acting heaven, riffing off each other with astonishing subtlety and wit. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The true soul of the New York mob is portrayed in Donnie Brasco, a first-class Mafia thriller that is also in its way a love story -- perhaps director Mike Newell's best. Read full review

  • 100
    USA Today | Susan Wloszczyna

    Pacino cans the showboating bluster and gives a gently nuanced portrait of a simple man in decline. Read full review

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly |

    It's the electric interplay between Pacino and Depp that will make it a Mob movie classic. Read full review

  • 90
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    Crackling good... the best crime movie in a long while. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The violence in this movie is gruesome (a scene involving the disposal of bodies is particularly graphic). But the movie has many human qualities and contains what will be remembered as one of Pacino's finest scenes. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    The psychological dimensions of the story remain underrealized, but the loaded central premise and intimate focus the film sustains combine for a very involving and dramatic piece of crime lore. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    The movie’s disappointingly straightforward, with no discernible flair. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    Unfortunately, the story isn't inventive and Newell's methodical approach to it verges on monotony. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    That bland, opaque quality is a disadvantage here; whatever else [Depp] is capable of, making audiences feel his pain is not at the top of the list. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Decent mob movie, but not meant for children.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film contains scenes of bloody violence and gunplay. Aside from "purely" criminal acts, there are depictions of physical abuse within families and a racially motivated attack. The characters use strong language throughout the film, smoke, drink, and deal drugs. One suffers an overdose off-screen.
  • Families can talk about Donnie's divided loyalty. Ostensibly, it is between the mob and the FBI, but is it that simple? Who else is he answerable to, and in the end, which group does he really side with? Have you ever been in a situation where your loyalty to a friend has been tested, particularly when a friend has done something very wrong?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Bloody violence and gunplay.
  • sex false3 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false5 Language: Very strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Smoking, drinking, drugs.

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