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Avg. Critic Score: 65 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.

  • 90
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    Ingeniously scary. Read full review

  • 80
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Smartly plotted, convincingly acted and brilliantly executed technically, this engrossing thriller adds some clever modern wrinkles to the time-tested formula of sinister intruders threatening innocents in their home. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    The movie, which suggests a combination of "Wait Until Dark" and "Rear Window," not only takes your breath away on an aesthetic level, it eloquently evokes the mother's and daughter's vulnerability. Read full review

  • 80
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Panic Room is Fincher's high-style testament to the cool things movies can do to make us jump out of our seats in the dark. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Jodie Foster stars, and it's a pleasure, for once, to see her in something entertaining and mindless. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The movie resembles a chess game; the board and all of the pieces are in full view, both sides know the rules, and the winner will simply be the better strategist. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    An above-average thriller. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Things move fast enough to make it a movie to enjoy and then forget. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    What's surprising about this traditional thriller, moderately successful but not completely satisfying, is exactly how genteel and unsurprising the execution turns out to be. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Soon enough a pointed ode to New York City nerve-rack and survival skills dissolves into a far more average, less compelling, and sometimes just slapdash-vicious cat-and-mouse game. Read full review

View more reviews for Panic Room on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Extreme suspense, graphic violence; not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie has extreme suspense and some graphic violence. A child is in peril. Characters use strong language.
  • Families can talk about what the characters do to escalate the level of violence, and how acting from emotions as opposed to reason can aggravate problems, no matter how satisfying it may seem at the time. Divorced families will be especially interested in Sarah's father, who has in no way abandoned his daughter.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Constant peril and suspense.
  • sex false1 Sex: Mild
  • language false4 Language: Very strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Character drinks to excess.
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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