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All the Pretty Horses (2000)

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Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 99
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 67

This adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel comes off as rather flat and uninvolving. Scenes feel rushed and done in shorthand, and the romance between Damon and Cruz has no sparks.

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 25

This adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel comes off as rather flat and uninvolving. Scenes feel rushed and done in shorthand, and the romance between Damon and Cruz has no sparks.

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Movie Info

Director Billy Bob Thornton explores coming of age in this Western based on Cormac McCarthy's prize-winning novel of the same name. John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) and Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) are young Texan men who seek a more fulfilling life as cowboys in the slowly fading Old West, circa 1949. One night, the duo head for Mexico in hope of finding some adventure and employment, and along the way run into Blevins (Lucas Black), an even younger drifter who has supposedly stolen a horse from

PG-13, 1 hr. 56 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Directed By: Billy Bob Thornton

Written By: Ted Tally

In Theaters: Dec 25, 2000 Wide

On DVD: May 8, 2001

Box Office:$14.7M

Miramax

All the Pretty Horses Trailer & Photos

Cast

Matt Damon
John Grady Cole
Henry Thomas
Lacey Rawlins
Lucas Black
Jimmy Blevins
Penelope Cruz
Alejandra
Ruben Blades
Rocha
Robert Patrick
Cole
Julio Oscar Mechoso
Captain
Miriam Colon
Alfonsa
Bruce Dern
Judge
Sam Shepard
J.C. Franklin
Jesse Plemons
Young Grady

Critic Reviews for All the Pretty Horses

All Critics (114) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (67) | DVD (12)

Damon is 30 and Cruz will soon be 27, and they look it. And there goes the drama.

January 9, 2001 Comment

Joel Siegel

Good Morning America

Top Critic

McCarthy's novel employs the coming of age narrative in service of his sanguineous spiritual vision, and for the film to renounce that philosophy is to give up its soul and be rendered lifeless.

December 26, 2000 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

| Comment

Steve Mirarchi

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Lovely but disengaging, mysterious but uninvolving, physical but strangely remote.

December 26, 2000 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

| Comment

Geoff Pevere

Toronto Star

Top Critic

Working from Ted Tally's casually artful script, director Billy Bob Thornton guides Matt Damon, Henry Thomas and Penelope Cruz to their most impressive performances in a major movie yet.

December 26, 2000 Full Review Source: Detroit News

| Comment

Susan Stark

Detroit News

Top Critic

What is on screen is impressive, even with the sense of something missing.

December 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Hollywood.com

| Comment

Ted Murphy

Hollywood.com

Not a disaster as rumored to be, just a disappointing adaptation of a great novel. Thonrton fails to dramatize in visually or dramatically satisfying ways the hero's odyssey from innocence to experience, from childish game to acting with honor.

June 29, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

I'm a fan of all involved, but this is a really tough watch.

December 31, 2005 Full Review Source: Supercala.com

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John Venable

Supercala.com

The movie that resulted from the studio's demand for cuts ... is a big-screen Cliff's Notes for the novel.

December 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Looking Closer

| Comment

Jeffrey Overstreet

Looking Closer

Despite a script which remains faithful to the sparse language of the novel, and some breathtaking cinematography, the whole production feels too lethargic.

February 13, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

| Comment

Tom Grealis

RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

Part elegy, part romance, and part myth, it's a sweeping paean to the lost West, a dreamy chronicling of the end of an age.

December 31, 2002 Comment

Gabriel Shanks

Mixed Reviews Source: Mixed Reviews

The result of what would appear to be a great deal of effort and some horribly misguided conviction is an extremely slow-moving train wreck.

December 8, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Threat

| Comment

Ron Wells

Film Threat

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Audience Reviews for All the Pretty Horses

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An ok film overall. Great aesthetics but the narrative wasn't really shown too well. I'll have to read the book and find out if that's McCarthys fault or the makers of this film. It had hints of a summer romance film but didn't quite get there which is a shame since performances were good.

December 31, 2010

Sophie Burgess

Super Reviewer

I thought that this was a really good movie, despite alot of bad reviews. I say this even though I am not a Penelope Cruz fan, but I AM a Matt Damon fan...so this probably helped my opinion. I think that he did a fantastic job. I thought that this was going to be primarily a love story, but it was so much more than that.

October 14, 2010