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Avg. Critic Score: 73 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    I'm Not There lets you hear it again, more majestically than ever. Read full review

  • 90
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Among its many achievements, Todd Haynes's I'm Not There hurls a Molotov cocktail through the facade of the Hollywood biopic factory. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    So what if nothing is revealed. Todd Haynes is a mischievous visionary who puts the music and the myth of Bob Dylan before us in I'm Not There and dares us not to revel in the troubadour's poetic, contentious, ever-changing essence. It's a feast for the eyes, the ears and the Dylanologist scratching around our minds and hearts. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    What Haynes does is take away the reassuring segues that argue everything flows and makes sense, and to show what's really chaos under the skin of the film. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    A fascinating experiment that, if the viewer is willing to surrender to Haynes's sometimes hermetic meditations on Dylan's life, heartily rewards the investment. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    A challenging film, one that I suspect can only benefit from multiple viewings. The success of its approaches varies, but its intent is unfailingly interesting. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Ray Bennett

    The star of the show is undoubtedly Blanchett, who has great fun playing Dylan as a showboat who quite knowingly goes about creating his reputation for rebellious independence. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Stylistically audacious in the way it employs six different actors and assorted visual styles to depict various aspects of the troubadour's life and career, the film nevertheless lacks a narrative and a center, much like the "ghost" at its core. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's not nearly as enjoyable as one of his rambling, meditative songs, though perhaps it is aspiring to be the cinematic equivalent. Give me "Tangled Up in Blue" any day over this incoherent, tangled trip. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Anyone can make a bad movie, but it takes a good filmmaker to make one as bad as I'm Not There. Read full review

View more reviews for I'm Not There on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Well-acted, mature Dylan biopic for big fans only.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this experimental meditation on the "many lives of Bob Dylan" will go straight over the head of most younger viewers. Older teens who've been exposed to Dylan's music may be curious about the drama, but its metaphoric nature means it probably won't appeal to most of them -- or to non-fan adults, for that matter. Without a fair amount of knowledge of Dylan's music and life, the film will seem confusing and slow. There are a few love scenes and shots of naked breasts and buttocks, not to mention one quick full-frontal flash of a post-shower Heath Ledger. Expect some language (standard R-rated stuff), a bit of '60s pill-popping, and lots of smoking.
  • Families can talk about the film's messages about artists, fame, music, and authenticity. What points do you think the director was trying to make? How is the film vastly different than other musicians' biopics?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Suggests that even in a celebrity-obsessed culture, you never really know who an artist is, as he may be various different versions of himself all at once.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Cartoonish image of young Woody being swallowed by a whale and a fantasy sequence of Jude and his band machine-gunning the crowd at a concert (it's a metaphor for Dylan going electric). Disturbing scene in which a murdered young woman is propped up in her coffin for everyone at a funeral to see. A child pets a dead horse.
  • sex false5 Sex: A couple of artistic lovemaking scenes -- in one, breasts are visible. There's a glimpse of a full-frontal Heath Ledger as he emerges out of the shower. Several kisses and three images of men's buttocks.
  • language false3 Language: More prevalent in some sequences than others. Words include "s--t," "a--hole," "c--ksucker," "tit," "f--k," "bitch," "p---y," "goddamn," etc.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Pill-popping during '60s mod scenes; cigarette smoking throughout. Minor social drinking.
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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