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NUMBERS
Box Office: $157,487
details...
CONSENSUS
Gosling commands the screen with a raw, electrifying performance.
CAST & CREW
Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Billy Zane
Directed by Henry Bean
more...
SYNOPSIS
Raised Jewish, Danny (Ryan Gosling) now runs with an anti-Semitic skinhead gang in Queens. Attending a meeting held by prominent self-proclaimed fascist Curtis Zampf (Billy Zane), Danny is noticed when he proposes killing Jews as a solution to society's problems. more...
MPAA RATING
R, for strong violence, language and some sexual content
RUNTIME
1 hour, 39 minutes
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: May 17, 2002
Video: Apr 22, 2003
RELEASE COMPANY
IDP Distribution
GENRE
Dramas, Jewish Heritage, Sadomasochism (S&m), Jewish
OFFICIAL SITE
• The Official The Believer Site
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TRAILER & MEDIA
TIDBITS
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
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 "The most compelling performance of the year adds substantial depth to this shocking testament to anti-Semitism and neo-fascism."
-- Jeanne Aufmuth, PALO ALTO WEEKLY
"It's too harsh to work as a piece of storytelling, but as an intellectual exercise -- an unpleasant debate that's been given the drive of a narrative and that's been acted out -- The Believer is nothing less than a provocative piece of work."
-- Joe Baltake, SACRAMENTO BEE
"A somewhat crudely constructed but gripping, questing look at a person so racked with self-loathing, he becomes an enemy to his own race."
-- Misha Berson, SEATTLE TIMES
"A penetrating, potent exploration of sanctimony, self-awareness, self-hatred and self-determination."
-- Rob Blackwelder, SPLICEDWIRE
"Like Edward Norton in American History X, Ryan Gosling (Murder By Numbers) delivers a magnetic performance."
-- Matt Brunson, CREATIVE LOAFING
 "A sham construct based on theory, sleight-of-hand, and ill-wrought hypothesis."
-- Walter Chaw, FILM FREAK CENTRAL
"Henry Bean's thoughtful screenplay provides no easy answers, but offers a compelling investigation of faith versus intellect"
-- Laura Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"A cinematic sucker punch."
-- Manohla Dargis, L.A. WEEKLY
"Gosling creates a staggeringly compelling character, a young man whose sharp intellect is at the very root of his contradictory, self-hating, self-destructive ways."
-- Michael Dequina, MR. BROWN'S MOVIES
"As played by Ryan Gosling, Danny is a frighteningly fascinating contradiction."
-- Marshall Fine, JOURNAL NEWS
"Flawed but undeniably provocative and brilliantly acted by Gosling."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"All the well-meaningness in the world can't erase the fact that The Believer feels like a 12-Step Program for the Jewish Nazi."
-- Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE
"An uncomfortable experience, but one as brave and challenging as you could possibly expect these days from American cinema."
-- Harry Guerin, RTE INTERACTIVE (DUBLIN, IRELAND)
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"Gosling provides an amazing performance that dwarfs everything else in the film."
-- Jeffrey Bruner, DES MOINES REGISTER
"Artful, effective and socially redeeming stuff."
-- Nick Carter, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"Ryan Gosling is, in a word, brilliant as the conflicted Daniel."
-- Robin Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"Bean drops the ball too many times... hoping the nifty premise will create enough interest to make up for an unfocused screenplay."
-- David Cornelius, AMAZING COLOSSAL WEBSITE
"Ryan Gosling gives an amazing performance. It's powerful, disturbing, and terribly tragic. You cannot watch this without being affected by it."
-- Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM
"Like a pack of dynamite sticks, built for controversy. The film is explosive, but a few of those sticks are wet."
-- David Elliott, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"If Jews were Catholics, this would be Catechism"
-- Thom Fowler, HOLLYWOOD BITCHSLAP
"This daring film challenges most widely held notions about religious conviction while providing a complex portrait of an identity crisis that's run amok and a good mind that's jumped the tracks."
-- Bill Gallo, NEW TIMES
"Due to stodgy, soap opera-ish dialogue, the rest of the cast comes across as stick figures reading lines from a TelePrompTer."
-- Rachel Gordon, FILMCRITIC.COM
"Less an examination of neo-Nazism than a probe into the nature of faith itself."
-- William Ham, CULTUREVULTURE.NET
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FRESH 68%
Avg. Rating: 7.1/10 |
"Ryan Gosling ... is at 22 a powerful young actor."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"An amazing and incendiary movie that dives straight into the rough waters of contradiction."
-- Matthew Gilbert, BOSTON GLOBE
"Fuller would surely have called this gutsy and at times exhilarating movie a great yarn."
-- J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE
"An important movie, a reminder of the power of film to move us and to make us examine our values."
-- Peter Howell, TORONTO STAR
"Easily the most thoughtful fictional examination of the root causes of anti-Semitism ever seen on screen."
-- Terry Lawson, DETROIT FREE PRESS
"See it. Debate it. Remember it."
-- Glenn Lovell, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
"Any intellectual arguments being made about the nature of God are framed in a drama so clumsy, there is a real danger less sophisticated audiences will mistake it for an endorsement of the very things that Bean abhors."
-- Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST
"Blessed with a searing lead performance by Ryan Gosling (Murder by Numbers), the movie is powerful and provocative. It's also built on a faulty premise, one it follows into melodrama and silliness."
-- Carla Meyer, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"[Gosling's] combination of explosive physical energy and convincing intelligence helps create a complex, unpredictable character."
-- Jennie Punter, GLOBE AND MAIL
"It is a challenging film, if not always a narratively cohesive one."
-- Carrie Rickey, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
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"A powerful, inflammatory film about religion that dares to question an ancient faith, and about hatred that offers no easy, comfortable resolution."
-- MaryAnn Johanson, FLICK FILOSOPHER
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "The Believer" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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