58
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasSwimming Upstream evokes time and place without being showy about it and offers an altogether invigorating experience.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittRush and Davis shine, and the drama is engrossingly told until it turns sadly sentimental in the last minutes.
- 70VarietyDavid StrattonVarietyDavid StrattonDistinguished by some unusually fine performances, but the lack of a satisfactory third act diminishes overall result.
- 70L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonA passionately told tale.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe role, one of the meatiest of Mr. Rush's career, is equal in flash and complexity to his turns as the pianist David Helfgott in "Shine" and the Marquis de Sade in "Quills."
- 60Village VoiceVillage VoiceRush and Davis perform strikingly against type, suffusing an otherwise average genre pic with quiet dignity.
- 50TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghFingleton turned his own story into a feel-good fable; neither Martin McGrath's gorgeous cinematography nor the hypnotic score by Run Lola Run(1998) composers Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil's can compensate.
- 50New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsRush has never played anyone this starkly unsympathetic, and he proves to be very good at playing very bad.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterWithout them (Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis), the melodramatic chronicle of real-life swimmer Tony Fingleton's formative years would have very little going for it.
- 50New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickTreads water.