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—— After Earth May 31
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Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday (2002)

tomatometer

20

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

44

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 2,900

My Rating

Movie Info

Two brothers in 1980s New York struggle to escape pasts entangled in Irish vs. Italian gang warfare.

R,

Drama

Edward Burns

Feb 18, 2003

IFC Films

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All Critics (18) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (11) | DVD (4)

With more swagger than Saint Pat on Snake Day, Edward Burns struts around 1983 Hell's Kitchen in search of a Sopranos audition.

March 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An ambitious, guilt-suffused melodrama crippled by poor casting.

October 11, 2002
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This time Mr. Burns is trying something in the Martin Scorsese street-realist mode, but his self-regarding sentimentality trips him up again.

October 10, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

For all its brooding quality, Ash Wednesday is suspenseful and ultimately unpredictable, with a sterling ensemble cast.

October 10, 2002 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Despite the authenticity of the trappings, the film is overblown in its plotting, hackneyed in its dialogue and anachronistic in its style.

October 9, 2002
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

...unlike [Scorsese's Mean Streets], Ash Wednesday is essentially devoid of interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot.

March 30, 2003 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

Ash Wednesday is not Edward Burns' best film, but it is a good and ambitious film. And it marks him as one of the most interesting writer/directors working today.

February 23, 2003 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat
Aisle Seat

Burns' fifth beer-soaked film feels in almost every possible way -- from the writing and direction to the soggy performances -- tossed off.

October 14, 2002 Full Review Source: Entertainment Today
Entertainment Today

We don't see much box-office green in this film's future.

October 11, 2002 Full Review Source: E! Online
E! Online

This may be Burns's strongest film since The Brothers McMullen.

October 10, 2002 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

There ought to be a directing license, so that Ed Burns can have his revoked.

October 10, 2002 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly
L.A. Weekly

Audience Reviews for Ash Wednesday

Edward Burns and Elijah Wood star as brothers growing up as part of irish gangs in hells kitchen after one of them kills a group of men who were gonna kill his brother he vanishes from his neighborhood figured for dead he turns up years later and no one has forgotten what he has done so now its a race for the two bothers to keep each other safe and too get out of town before they both end up dead. that sums of this plot of really well done drama that should be seen by anyone that enjoys a good crime drama type film
June 19, 2010
silentbob66

Super Reviewer

Good film, sad yet realistic ending.
June 7, 2009
Chosen718

Super Reviewer

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