72
Metascore
43 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Baltimore SunMichael SragowBaltimore SunMichael SragowSeabiscuit revives the sweeping pleasures of movies that address and respect the mass audience, raising the common denominator instead of pandering to it. This crowd-pleaser rouses honest and engulfing cheers.
- 88Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversUnabashedly hokey, but would you want it any other way? In an era of cynical junk (did anyone say “Bad Boys II”?), Ross restores the good name of crowd-pleasing.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie's races are thrilling because they must be thrilling; there's no way for the movie to miss on those, but writer-director Gary Ross and his cinematographer, John Schwartzman, get amazingly close to the action.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyThe three (human) leads are perfection. Bridges' Howard is as breezily garrulous and glad-handing as Cooper's Smith is laconic and withdrawn. Maguire's Pollard has haunted eyes and orangey hair that makes him look like a human jack-o'-lantern, and establishes his own unique rhythm and less-is-more style.
- 70Film ThreatRick KisonakFilm ThreatRick KisonakSublimely directed, scored, shot and performed, the picture misses greatness by a nose as a result of shortcomings in its script.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerWatching this movie, you get the feeling that the Depression existed so that Seabiscuit could be memorialized.
- 70Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFor all its pictorial splendor and carefully calculated drama, this film misses greatness by a country mile.
- 60TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghThe movie's secret weapons are its stellar cast, whose performances go a long way to ameliorating Ross's ham-fisted use of foreshadowing and symbols, and its brilliantly shot racing sequences -- they're heart-stoppingly suspenseful even when the outcome is a matter of record.
- 50SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorIt's deluxe and handsome and has no soul.
- 25Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittI found much of it as emotionally rigged as a crooked horse race.