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Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes (2002)

tomatometer

77

Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 151
Fresh: 116 | Rotten: 35

A dark, compelling drama featuring Jackson's best performance in years.

73

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 8

A dark, compelling drama featuring Jackson's best performance in years.

audience

49

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 52,745

My Rating

Movie Info

Director Roger Michell follows up the hit romantic comedy Notting Hill (1999) with this thought-provoking thriller. Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson star, respectively, as Gavin Banek and Doyle Gibson, two New York men whose lives become accidentally intertwined in a Good Friday fender bender on the FDR Drive. Late for a crucial appointment, hotshot lawyer Gavin tosses Doyle a blank check and leaves the scene, while Doyle, whose car is inoperable, is late for a court-appointed custody hearing.

Sep 10, 2002

$66.7M

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (159) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (35) | DVD (31)

Combines a knack for storytelling with a rare instinct for exploring ideas within the framework of a major, star-driven Hollywood movie.

September 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A thrilling ride but also a thoughtful one, it's a movie that does manage to do more good than bad by the end of the day.

July 20, 2002 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In addition to gluing you to the edge of your seat, Changing Lanes is also a film of freshness, imagination and insight.

April 25, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The ending is guaranteed to aggravate any self-respecting New York driver.

April 16, 2002 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It pulls the rug out from under you, just when you're ready to hate one character, or really sympathize with another character, something happens to send you off in different direction.

April 15, 2002 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's watchable and compelling, and works on more than one level.

April 13, 2002 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Emotionally violent thriller for mature teens.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

"Changing Lanes" asks how far we'd go not to lose what's ours, but it's a morality play with hope for détente rather than any destructive force. Gavin and Doyle are two severely flawed men whose best intentions are knocked about by their worst impulses.

September 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

Evitando o maniqueísmo, o roteiro cria dois personagens complexos e ambíguos ao mesmo tempo que recheia a narrativa com diálogos bem construídos e instigantes.

February 1, 2010 Comment
Cinema em Cena

turns into a much more thought-provoking movie than you might otherwise expect

January 9, 2010 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

A rare Hollywood film that deals with both the violence and the turmoil and the regret these men face when they slow to catch their breath...

May 19, 2009 Full Review Source: Seanax.com | Comment
Seanax.com

Themes about corporate ethics, greed, corruption and our vulnerability in the face of determined evil have a Falling Down finality that is weakened by unconvincing character arcs.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

One of the most impressive movies of the year; taut and compelling.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

A slickly shot, intelligent thriller, it's buoyed up by an exceptional performance from Jackson, who brings crumpled dignity and pathos to his habitual loser.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Michell is willing to explore a drama that has no heroes, just broken men trying to find some hope in the darkness, some meaning in the madness.

December 6, 2004 Comment
Looking Closer

... An extraordinary film with a level of moral complexity and attention to detail that are rare today ...

January 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | Comment
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

How often do you go to a Hollywood movie and still find yourself thinking about it on the way to work the next day?

February 12, 2003 Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | Comment

Changing Lanes is a good movie built on a dumb premise. But it's a good movie all the same.

February 8, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | Comment
Film Quips Online

Despite its strong start with a plausible situation gone disastrously wrong, Changing Lanes lectures audiences and devolves into the corniest of melodramas--there's nothing subtle about it.

January 13, 2003 Full Review Source: Radio Free Entertainment | Comment
Radio Free Entertainment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Changing Lanes

Another great suggestion from Mr. Tim Ryan. If you thought that Sam Jackson made his money by cursing really loudly on camera, check out this movie him actually acting, really really well. A suspenseful dogfight that subtle asks questions about the nature of humanity, I found myself actually stressed out -- and

February 5, 2011
jarobb3

Super Reviewer

decent flick but not that rememberable

January 25, 2007
sanjurosamurai
danny d

Super Reviewer

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