Metacritic Movie Ratings
Blue Valentine Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Blue Valentine is lushly touching and gorgeously told.

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• 100

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  Gosling and Williams have the most palpable chemistry of any screen couple this year, never striking a false note in this achingly tender tale of a love that implodes before our eyes.

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• 90

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  Here's one vote for the most affecting, anguishing, revealing and prophetic scene of the movie year-and yes, it's all of those things at once in a powerful film that alternates between moments of earlier happiness and later pain.

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• 88

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  Derek Cianfrance, the film's writer and director, observes with great exactitude the birth and decay of a relationship. This film is alive in its details.

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• 80

  out of 100

  VarietyTodd McCarthy

  On balance, this is a meaty, strongly realized dramatic work of considerable accomplishment.

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• 80

  out of 100

  TimeMary Pols

  The scenes cut so close to the emotional bone that you can understand why they might cause a panic amongst MPAA boardmembers, although of course, it's nothing to be afraid of: just the realism of love in its varied forms.

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• 80

  out of 100

  The New YorkerAnthony Lane

  Nothing out of the ordinary happens in Blue Valentine, and that, together with the vital, untrammelled performances of the two leading actors, is the root of its power.

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• 60

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey

  That meandering dialogue can be difficult to control, and at times the film feels as if the director has stepped away from the vehicle, leaving it to veer off the path. Still, it's an experiment that works more than it fails by giving Gosling and Williams both the motive and the means to create something extraordinary, a valentine that actually says something true about being in love.

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• 50

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  Cindy and Dean remain, for all their sustained agony and flickering joy, something less than completely realized human beings. Mr. Cianfrance's ingenious chronological gimmick, coupled with his anxious, clumsy plotting, leaves them without enough oxygen to burst into breathing, loving life.

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• 50

  out of 100

  The Hollywood Reporter

  Ultimately, the heavy-handed and annoyingly obvious aesthetic wears thin.

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See all Blue Valentine movie reviews at Metacritic.com