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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 42 out of 100 Mixed or average 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.

  • 70
    Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

    Home of the Brave isn't exactly a subtle or a delicate picture -- it's an old-fashioned Hollywood movie, at least in tone, that's being released like an indie -- but it has some terrific acting and comes straight from the heart. Read full review

  • 63
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    While Mark Friedman's script is as unsubtle as Winkler's direction, their sincerity and the subject's sharp immediacy lend the film a certain power. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    Timeliness is all very well, but the significant subject matter cries out for a defter directorial touch and a deeper complexity in regard to the characters and performances. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    The best thing about the movie is that it's interested in the soldiers, not the self-serving popinjays who seem to think the war is a big fat career-enhancing photo opportunity. The people who got shot at deserve most of the attention. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Evenness of political keel, combined with a generic filmmaking style, is an artistic weapon way too puny for a successful assault on so tough, bruising, and crucial a subject. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times |

    The movie's mild-mannerness is especially disappointing when compared with such documentaries as "The War Tapes" and the excellent "Home Front," vivid and incisive explorations of post-Iraq anger and disillusionment that have gone largely unseen by a disinterested public. If Americans are suffering from Iraq fatigue, Home of the Brave will do little to rouse them. Read full review

  • 40
    Village Voice |

    As sincere as a three-legged puppy. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    As this cautious, politically evenhanded movie grinds along like clockwork, the fuse that should spark an emotional explosion fizzles after some sporadic hisses and sputters. Read full review

  • 33
    The Onion A.V. Club | Keith Phipps

    Whatever its model, the film is assembled from much poorer material, leftover parts of Lifetime movies and well-meaning indie films seen only on opening nights at some forgotten festival in Tampa. Read full review

  • 30
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Starts well with the stirring spectacle of young men and women, members of a National Guard unit stationed south of Baghdad, struggling to do their duty in an alien land of unfathomable danger. Once they return, however, wounded physically or shattered spiritually, the film turns didactic, contrived and occasionally ludicrous. Read full review

View more reviews for Home of the Brave on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Iraq war vets cope with big issues; not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this serious drama deals with difficult issues faced by veterans of the Iraq war, including post-traumatic stress disorder, phantom pain, alcoholism, and lack of stateside resources. War violence -- including shooting and explosions (mortars, grenades, rockets, and disguised bombs) -- results in bloody injuries, deaths, and upset survivors. At home, characters suffer from flashbacks, nightmares, emotional disturbances, and physical disabilities. Family members argue, and characters swear frequently, smoke cigarettes, drink, and take/discuss prescription drugs.
  • Families can talk about the media's coverage of the war in Iraq. How does the movie's treatment of the issues compare to what you see on television? Do you think one version is more accurate and/or objective than the other? Why and how? How is the media's coverage of the Iraq war different from -- and similar to -- coverage of other wars and conflicts? Families can also discuss how war affects veterans and their families. What issues do the veterans in this movie grapple with once they come home? How do their families struggle to support them? How are these challenges different for men and women, for parents and children?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Iraq war veterans return home to face an unprepared VA hospital, frustrated and loving families, and a lack of social and economic options.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: The film begins in Iraq, during the war. Scenes include urban combat and ambush (a bomb disguised as a dead dog blows up a U.S. convoy, leaving bloodied bodies, and there are shoot-outs, foot and vehicle chases, and explosions). Flashbacks throughout the film repeat scenes of explosions and wounded soldiers, including Vanessa's bloody hand/missing fingers. Several scenes show the aftermath of war injuries, as Vanessa struggles with her prosthetic hand and physical therapy. Some difficult discussions of war experiences (killing others, seeing friends killed). Attempted hostage-taking ends in a police shooting death.
  • sex false0 Sex: Kissing in bed precedes a cut to a post-sex couple lying in bed; kissing and caressing between couple (bra visible); nothing explicit.
  • language false5 Language: Frequent use of "f--k," plus other language -- "s--t," "hell," "damn," "bitch," "p---y," "a--hole." A rude hand gesture is used; a T-shirt reads "Buck Fush."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Amstel light, REI, Sun Chips.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Cigarette smoking (frequent); beer drinking; alcoholism (a veteran is abusive, angry, and miserable); discussion of prescription drugs (for pain, insomnia, and depression).
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

1.0

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Home of the Brave Movie Ratings + Reviews

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So-so 112 fan reviews

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