Lions for LambsMovie Reviews

"Lions for Lambs" poster art.

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 47 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 OK for kids 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    This is responsive, engaged filmmaking, the kind of movie they say Americans don't make. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The tiny scale and armchair talkiness mark the movie as a bit of a folly, an act of idealistic hubris in today's commercial marketplace, yet that's its (minor) fascination too. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Though characters make some strong points, the film feels preachy and falls flat as entertainment. Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    There is a long stretch toward the beginning of the film when we're interested, under the delusion that it's going somewhere. When we begin to suspect it's going in circles, our interest flags, and at the end, while rousing music plays, I would have preferred the Peggy Lee version of "Is That All There Is?" Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Ray Bennett

    Politicians, the media, educators, military commanders and a docile public all come under fire in a well-made movie that offers no answers but raises many important questions. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    It tells us everything most of us know already, including the fact that politicians lie, journalists fail and youth flounders. Mostly it tells us that Mr. Redford feels really bad about the state of things. Welcome to the club. Read full review

  • 40
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    But for all its passion and topical currency, the movie plays too often like a college colloquium. And it ends on an unsatisfying note, with each character's choice, whether fateful or fatal, hanging in a confounding limbo of indeterminacy. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    Redford and Carnahan would like us to ponder our role in their fate. And maybe we would, if the lecture weren't so dull and self-satisfied. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Derek Elley

    Amounts to a giant cry of "Americans, get engaged!" wrapped in a star-heavy discourse that uses a lot of words to say nothing new. Read full review

  • 20
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    You could make a case for this as a feature-film version of the FCC's fairness doctrine, but it feels more like a blandness doctrine, a pulling and hauling of the tone-deaf script, which is credited to Matthew Michael Carnahan, to the point of perfect vacuousness. Read full review

View more reviews for Lions for Lambs on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 16+ Intense war thriller offers food for thought.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this political drama/thriller is too intense for tweens and younger teens. A frank (and somewhat didactic) examination of the cost of war both at home and on the battlefield, its arguments are both complicated and hard to digest. Plus, there's a fair amount of war violence -- including some realistic battle scenes and a nasty wound shown up close -- and some strong violence. But it's not gratuitously bloody, and most of the content is age-appropriate for older high schoolers, who might find plenty to think about based on the discussions between the professor and his student.
  • Families can talk about the statement the movie is making about war. What messages does it send about the toll that war exacts on both soldiers and those at home? Do politicians consider the personal cost of war? What is the role of diplomacy? And what is society's responsibility in regards to the country's political and social problems? Families can also discuss why war is a theme in so many movies. What about it both fascinates and horrifies us? Can movies (and other media) help make sense of war? Why or why not?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: To a certain extent, everyone in the film displays curiosity and intellectual rigor, which drives them to seek out answers. A professor makes an impassioned plea for youth to be more interested and involved in society. Two men give up their lives for their country, while back home a jaded journalist redevelops a sense of justice.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: A fair amount of realistic war violence. There are battles, and gunshots are fired; during a skirmish, a soldier incurs a nasty compound fracture, which is shown in close-up. Lots of verbal sparring.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false3 Language: Language includes "bulls--t" and "damn."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not too many brands, though many mentions of Republicans and Democrats and newspapers and TV channels.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
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.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

0.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

Hey, this sucks … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Lions for Lambs Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 4,702 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

Lions for Lambs Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook