Brokeback Mountain (2005)

All Critics (234) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (212) | Rotten (31) | DVD (38)

Like all great love stories, Ang Lee's is one of tragic romance, strongly acted by Heath Ledger as the most buttoned-up of cowboys, and Michelle Williams as his betrayed and enraged wife.

January 13, 2006 Full Review | Comment (1)

Stephen Whitty

Newark Star-Ledger

Top Critic

Ang Lee continues to astonish.

January 9, 2006

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

Top Critic

Both [Gyllenhaal and Ledger] embody what that old Waylon and Willie song taught us -- 'Cowboys ain't easy to love, and they're harder to hold.'

January 6, 2006 Full Review

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

Lee has taken a story of gay love and placed it where it should be -- in the mainstream. He's delivered a beautifully crafted film to boot.

December 22, 2005 Full Review

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

Top Critic

A sweeping, solemn, self-serious chronicle of their relationship over several decades.

December 20, 2005 Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Top Critic

It stays with you after you've seen it, like a haunting strain of music; both love song and elegy for what might have been.

December 20, 2005 Full Review

Moira MacDonald

Seattle Times

Top Critic

An important and original romance that really and finally portrays the homosexual romance as two humans falling in love and never plays it for clichés...

August 2, 2010 Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

A romantic western with a twist, Brokeback Mountain is a haunting and well acted exploration of a forbidden and secretive love affair between two cowboys.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Matthew Pejkovic

Matt's Movie Reviews

Brokeback Mountain is ultimately about the paralysis of regret and how it fractures the lives of not just those afflicted by it, but everyone else around them.

December 6, 2009 Full Review

Rubin Safaya

Cinemalogue.com

Lee can't tell the difference between criticizing oppression and turning out an oppressed work

August 30, 2009 Full Review | Comments (7)

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Arguably Ang Lee's best film, this swooning, achingly sad near-masterpiece offers a universal love story that lingers long in the mind.

November 21, 2008 Full Review | Comments (3)

Leslie Felperin

Film4

If you have the patience to sit through a slow-moving romance and you lack the vanity to be put off by explicit cowboy on cowboy relations, you'll greatly appreciate the light at the end of Brokeback Mountain, a work of art that's more than just a movie.

November 20, 2008 Full Review

Brian Marder

Hollywood.com

Mature, emotionally complicated film -- not for kids.

July 10, 2008 Full Review

Cynthia Fuchs

Common Sense Media

At times feels as ancient and familiar as any well-worn piece of American legend, even if its content could set John Wayne spinning in his grave.

May 10, 2008 Full Review

Thomas Peyser

Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

At its core, Brokeback Mountain is not a gay love story%u2013it is simply a love story.

February 28, 2008 Full Review

Brandon Fibbs

BrandonFibbs.com

It has the simplicity and clarity of a fable, wedded to the gnarled and taciturn physical realism of the Western.

August 11, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

A masterful telling of star crossed love, with all the complications of any affair. Neither gratuitous nor shying away from the hidden pasion, Lee crafts a sublte and quite beautful film.

June 21, 2007 Full Review

Jason Gorber

Film Scouts

Annie Proulx's beautiful, delicate short story...has been transformed into a beautiful, delicate movie under the masterly direction of Ang Lee.

February 22, 2007 Full Review

Kevin Lally

Film Journal International

The 2-disc collector's edition includes a docu about the making of the film; the parodies inspired by the story; music from the mountian, in which composer Santaolalla talks about his score; and stars Ledger and Gyllenhaal discussing their preparations.

January 22, 2007

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Brokeback got us good on DVD--not once but twice. Look for a third DVD in eight months with a scratch and sniff case made out of Jack Twist's denim shirt.

January 18, 2007 Full Review

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

Just a well-made, well-acted melodrama that is quiet and reflective instead of big and bombastic.

December 30, 2006 Full Review

Ethan Alter

NYC Film Critic

Though presented as a story of thwarted love -- of ache and longing and regrets -- it's ultimately a story about the relationships that shape us -- for better and for worse.

September 22, 2006

Lisa Ann Cockrel

Christianity Today

it could have been real campy, if it weren't so well-crafted as to be Oscar material

September 10, 2006 Full Review

Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

Film with much religious and mystical imagery.

August 22, 2006 Full Review

Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

• 1. Ennis Del Mar: Jack, I swear.
  – Submitted by Jean R (45 days ago)
• 1. Ennis Del Mar: Jack, I swear...
  – Submitted by Shishuraj K (5 months ago)
• 1. Alma: Don't try to fool me no more, Ennis! I know what that means! Jack Twist... Jack Nasty! You didn't go up there to fish, you and him...
  – Submitted by Mariam M (7 months ago)
• 1. Ennis Del Mar: If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.
  – Submitted by Alex K (8 months ago)
• 1. Jack Twist: I wish I knew how to quit you.
  – Submitted by Cathy D (8 months ago)
• 1. Ennis Del Mar: If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.
  – Submitted by Brandon R (9 months ago)