48
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80L.A. WeeklyScott FoundasL.A. WeeklyScott FoundasThis won't be remembered as one of the prodigiously talented Armstrong's great films (My Brilliant Career, High Tide, Little Women), but it's still 90 percent better than everything else out there.
- Far more diverting and well crafted than its promotion-free release campaign might suggest. Then again, for a film largely based on the notion that "nothing is what it seems," such lowered expectations may actually work in its favor.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe Hollywood ReporterRay BennettWhat it lacks is a villain, and magic without danger is simply a parlor trick, which is what the film becomes.
- 50New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanThough all the elements are in place, there's not much magic to be found in Death Defying Acts, an intermittently entertaining but surprisingly modest romance from Gillian Armstrong.
- 40VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyA handsome contraption that's never very engaging, let alone convincing.
- 38New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithThe ingredients are there for a cute con game, but instead the movie turns out to be a mushy melodrama.
- 30The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerThe New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMs. Zeta-Jones is too elegant for the lowlife she's supposed to be, Ms. Ronan isn't endearing enough to be a ragamuffin, and, under Gillian Armstrong's direction, never for a minute do you believe they're mother and daughter.