Do you want to see ‘Shadowboxer’?

Add to Netflix

Shadowboxer (2005)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4/10
Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 46

With random characters and a preposterous plot, this bizarre thriller might leave you with your mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Average Rating: 3.6/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 19

With random characters and a preposterous plot, this bizarre thriller might leave you with your mouth hanging open in disbelief.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 64,006

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

A late-career change of heart leads to a dangerous life on the run for two seasoned assassins whose complex relationship masks a dark past in director Lee Daniels' pulpy film noir. When Mickey (Cuba Gooding Jr.) was just a child, his abusive father savagely murdered the young boy's mother shortly before being gunned down by Rose (Helen Mirren), Mickey's stepmother. Twenty years later, Mickey and Rose are not only working together as hired killers, but they have grown to become lovers as well.

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Lee Daniels

In Theaters: Sep 9, 2005 Wide

On DVD: Nov 7, 2006

Box Office:$0.3M

Freestyle Releasing

Shadowboxer Trailer & Photos

Cast

Critic Reviews for Shadowboxer

All Critics (60) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (47) | DVD (7)

Thumbs down to a movie of such vile and violent temper.

August 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

| Comment

Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Top Critic

Gosh, it's almost too bad/good to be true.

August 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

| Comment

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

The one thing I'll say about Shadowboxer is that it's never boring. Of course, I could also say that about stepping on crushed glass.

August 7, 2006 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper

| Comment

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

It tells a story that would fit perfectly in a standard Hollywood action thriller, but it tells it in the grammar and syntax of an art film. The two sensibilities make no sense together.

August 3, 2006 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic

| Comment

Richard Nilsen

Arizona Republic

Top Critic

Arresting performances by Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. are squandered on a moody thriller that has way too much mood and not nearly enough thrills.

August 3, 2006 Comment

Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

The movie at heart is just a wallow in ugliness and unpleasantness in the service of nothing.

July 28, 2006 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Aaron Spelling may be slapping his forehead, but a few cemetary plots over, 1950's melodrama king Douglas Sirk is smiling.

February 1, 2009 Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly

| Comment

Amy Nicholson

I.E. Weekly

The raw materials for a gutsy, gritty, fearless, fascinating thriller are here, but they amount to some intriguing individual parts and not a satisfying, cohesive whole.

August 26, 2007 Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com

| Comment

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

This cat-and-mouse caper's Swiss cheese plotline is riddled with too many holes to consider this flick as much more than a snuff film.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Ban the N-Word

| Comment

Kam Williams

Ban the N-Word

Despite assembling a talented cast and crew, Daniels is stymied here by a script that takes itself far too seriously.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

| Comment

Daniel Eagan

Film Journal International

That most wonderful of films, the kind that works on every level, but can't be easily pigeonholed.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews

| Comment

Andrea Chase

Killer Movie Reviews

Mirren and Gooding are interesting -- and sexy -- to watch together. Once she leaves the film, the picture loses a bit of its uniqueness.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News

| Comment

Evan Henerson

Los Angeles Daily News

that most wonderful of films, the kind that works on every level, but can't be easily pigeonholed

November 7, 2006 Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews

| Comment

Andrea Chase

Killer Movie Reviews

Though generally well-acted, it is rendered by director Lee Daniels with such stifling pretension and aggressive weirdness that it becomes an unintentional art-film parody.

November 6, 2006 Full Review Source: FilmStew.com

| Comment

Brett Buckalew

FilmStew.com Source: FilmStew.com

The script can't quite get a grasp on character depth, yet it also can't quite deliver the cheap thrills such a trashy tale might otherwise provide.

November 4, 2006 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comment

David Cornelius

eFilmCritic.com

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mo'Nique as lovers? Now we've seen everything.

October 28, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

"Shadowboxer" is supposed to be concerned with how parents' lifestyles can be passed down to their children, but that is too simplistic here. The film, instead, is more a showcase of naked bodies, gory scenarios and over-the-top performances.

September 2, 2006 Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca

| Comment

Angela Baldassarre

Sympatico.ca Source: Sympatico.ca

It's all so cliched in terms of personalities and full of such unbelievable situations that it's often downright laughable. And not in a good way.

August 25, 2006 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies

| Comment

Jane Stevenson

Jam! Movies

There's no glee here, just a handful of glum characters stuck in an unending cycle of sex, violence, and heavy-handed preaching.

August 19, 2006 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle

| Comment

Brian Clark

Austin Chronicle

Much of the movie is just too unintentionally goofy to take at face value

August 6, 2006 Full Review Source: New Times

| Comment

Luke Y. Thompson

New Times

The title [is] an apt metaphor for the movie, which ultimately bobs and weaves a lot but ends up all empty air.

August 5, 2006 Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion

| Comment

Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Shadowboxer

View All

Two hired assassins help raise their mark's daughter while being pursued by her sociopath boyfriend.Lee Daniels's, the director behind Precious, debut is an attempt at a thriller, but it's in the guise of an art film with all of the pretension and none of the art. There are long sequences during which the actors emote

October 2, 2011

Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Ferlito A mother and her stepson have a romantic relationship while working as contract killers, but soon they learn there is someone trying to hunt them down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I actually don't know how to explain this movie. It was

August 7, 2009

♥˩ƳИИ ƜѲѲƉƧ♥

Super Reviewer

Shadowboxer Quotes

View All

No quotes approved yet for Shadowboxer. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Character	Quote
	Enter quote here...	Delete

DVD

Top Rentals

35%	The Hangover Part II
25%	Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par...
81%	Kung Fu Panda 2
44%	Cowboys & Aliens
83%	Rise of the Planet of the Apes

More…

New On DVD This Week

25%	Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par...
88%	Lady and the Tramp
69%	A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
21%	Fireflies in the Garden
45%	The Rebound

More…

Latest News for Shadowboxer

July 20, 2006:

Critical Consensus: "Lady" Is All Wet; "Ex" Is Not Super; "House" Is Scary, "Clerks" Is Funny
This week we've got some magic in ordinary dwellings (M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the...

View All