29
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 50Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniPhiladelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniThis story truly is inspirational and a lesson about civic responsibility. However, it makes for little more than a TV movie or a straight-to-video snack.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDuchovny tamps down his sardonic style to play a quiet guy, but the result is blandness. Timothy Hutton gives a solid turn as a standup businessman. In all, director Anthony Fabian isn’t sure how to build a nontreacly movie out of an inspiring true-life story.
- 40Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleUnfortunately director Anthony Fabian prefers to dole out emotion in short bursts of superficial montage rather than fully dramatic scene work in which characters deepen through extended interaction. That leaves Louder Than Words feeling diffuse, choppy and cold rather than illuminative about how broken families heal after terrible loss.
- 38RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaRogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaWhat is harder to achieve than building a hospital? Producing a realistic movie about coping with grief by helping others – at least for the filmmakers behind Louder Than Words.
- 30Village VoiceSteve EricksonVillage VoiceSteve EricksonLouder Than Words obviously means well, but its brand of cheap uplift is the kind of cheese that actually breeds cynicism.
- 30The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergThere’s a way to tell this story that wouldn’t come across as soggy or manipulative. However well intentioned, Louder Than Words doesn’t find that tone.
- 25Slant MagazineCarson LundSlant MagazineCarson LundNever once does it project an intuitive understanding of how humans would behave or react in the midst of such a shattering misfortune.
- 25Washington PostMark JenkinsWashington PostMark JenkinsAt every turn, the movie is less moving than the real-life events that inspired it.
- 20The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThis Lifetime-grade pic is bad enough to have no impact, a vanity project whose ostensible story -- a grieving dad fights bureaucracy to build a children's hospital honoring his dead daughter -- is one of the least dramatic things put on screen in recent years.