Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

53 Australia
34 Bedtime Stories
41 Beverly Hills Chihuahua
57 Body of Lies
68 Bolt
xx Bride Wars
63 Burn After Reading
65 Cadillac Records
58 City of Ember
69 Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The
82 Dark Knight, The
39 Day the Earth Stood Still, The
27 Delgo
43 Eagle Eye
36 Fly Me to the Moon
41 Four Christmases
28 Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
57 High School Musical 3: Senior Year
35 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
57 Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
61 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
53 Marley & Me
84 Milk
35 Mirrors
39 Nights in Rodanthe
50 Nothing Like the Holidays
45 Pride and Glory
30 Punisher: War Zone
58 Quantum of Solace
71 Revolutionary Road
36 Righteous Kill
60 Role Models
19 Saw V
57 Secret Life of Bees, The
36 Seven Pounds
49 Sex Drive
49 Soul Men
30 Spirit, The
53 Tale of Despereaux, The
51 Transporter 3
56 Twilight
xx Unborn, The
56 Valkyrie
70 Vicky Cristina Barcelona
56 W.
93 WALL-E
46 Yes Man
56 Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

58 Adam Resurrected
64 Appaloosa
69 Ashes of Time Redux
68 August Evening
54 Battle in Seattle
76 Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70 Black Balloon, The
55 Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
51 Breakfast with Scot
xx Cargo 200
63 Changeling
66 Che
84 Christmas Tale, A
93 Class, The
38 Dark Streets
57 Defiance
xx Dostana
70 Doubt
62 Duchess, The
46 Dukes, The
63 Eden
xx Extreme Movie
69 Fear(s) of the Dark
26 Filth and Wisdom
28 Fireproof
80 Frost/Nixon
43 Gardens of the Night
73 Girl Cut in Two, A
36 Good
54 Good Dick
73 Gran Torino
30 Guitar, The
84 Happy-Go-Lucky
31 Hounddog
26 House of the Sleeping Beauties
49 How About You
70 Hunger
72 I Served the King of England
70 I.O.U.S. A
40 Igor
79 I've Loved You So Long
64 JCVD
xx Just Another Love Story
29 Lake City
59 Last Chance Harvey
82 Let the Right One In
31 Let Them Chirp Awhile
xx Local Color
89 Man on Wire
74 Moscow, Belgium
36 My Name Is Bruce
28 Nobel Son
xx Not Easily Broken
64 Nothing But the Truth
40 Other End of the Line, The
34 Otto; or Up with Dead People
75 Pool, The
78 Pray the Devil Back to Hell
xx Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
82 Rachel Getting Married
58 Reader, The
56 Religulous
32 Repo! The Genetic Opera
53 RocknRolla
64 Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
77 Secret of the Grain, The
84 Silent Light
86 Slumdog Millionaire
57 Special
80 Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67 Synecdoche, New York
82 Tell No One
68 Theater of War
65 Timecrimes
83 Trouble the Water
43 Tru Loved
83 U2 3D
88 Waltz with Bashir
59 We Are Wizards
80 Wendy and Lucy
71 What Doesn't Kill You
55 What Just Happened?
61 Where God Left His Shoes
40 While She Was Out
81 Wrestler, The
xx Yonkers Joe

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Frozen River
Sony Pictures Classics


9.5

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for some language

Starring Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Michael O'Keefe, Charlie McDermott, and Mark Boone Jr.

Frozen River is the story of Ray Eddy, an upstate New York trailer mom who is lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling when she meets a Mohawk girl who lives on a reservation that straddles the US-Canadian border. Broke after her husband takes off with the down payment for their new doublewide, Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila, a smuggler, and the two begin making runs across the frozen St. Lawrence River carrying illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants in the trunk of Ray’s Dodge Spirit. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Courtney Hunt
DIRECTED BY:	Courtney Hunt
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: August 1, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

It's tough and cold and gives an inside look at poverty in America. Yet the film is also incredibly compelling and intense and I can't think of another film that's this small and powerful.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

As the summer heats up, let Frozen River wash over you; let its bracing drama and the intensity of its acting restore your spirits as well as your faith in American independent film.

100

Time Richard Schickel

In the end, you feel that Frozen River gives about as truthful a picture of American bleakness as it's possible for a movie to present. It is a movie that asks something of an audience, but it richly rewards our curiously rapt attention.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Sometimes two performances come along that are so perfectly matched that no overt signals are needed to show how the characters feel about each other. That's what happens between Melissa Leo and Misty Upham in Frozen River.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

There is nothing sentimental or picturesque about the performances or imagery. The word that best describes both is elemental.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A tale of ordinary Americans scraping bottom, yet there's a redemption in that. The film asks: If you were this desperate, wouldn't you do the same?

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This is a debut feature, though you'd never know it from the filmmaker's commandingly confident style, or from the heartbreaking beauty -- heartbreaking, then heartmending -- of Melissa Leo's performance as a poor single mother who's living her whole life on thin ice.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Ms. Hunt's eye for detail has the precision of a short story writer's. She misses nothing.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Made with uncommon skill and assurance, the film never succumbs to rank sentimentality, but it manages to get at the nuances of human relationships.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Does what too many independent American movies only pretend to do: Takes you to an unnoticed corner of our country and shows what it's like to actually live there.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A Sundance hit that is both absorbing and bleak, Frozen River is anchored by powerful performances, believable scenarios and excellent writing.

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

Possibly one of the biggest reasons Frozen River stands out among bad-decision movies is that Ray never really tries to justify her actions.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Strikingly authentic, socially conscious crime drama.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

There is no shortage of indie movies about economically challenged women. This one is different, in that the women actually do something besides just talk about it.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Melissa Leo is startlingly good...You feel like you're watching a life, not a performance.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

If there's one thing this movie gets dead right, it's the desperation of impoverished single mothers trying to fend for their children.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Frozen River isn't cinematically ambitious or formally adventurous, but it's built around powerful and nuanced performances by Leo, Upham and Charlie McDermott.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A first-rate thriller, maintaining a high level of suspense.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Frozen River skates matter-of-factly on thin ice.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

A solid, satisfying movie.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

The film's greatest achievement is that it allows us to know Ray.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Melissa Leo is one of America's most underrated character actresses, and Frozen River confirms that opinion.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's not a happy film, but it feels true.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

If the role brings her more recognition and work, all the better, but Leo certainly isn't lobbying for it. She doesn't show off. She just does what she's always done: Reveals a character for who she is, nothing more, nothing less.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

Most films about illegal immigration are set on the Mexican border, and Frozen River is free of the stereotypical characters and situations of that familiar setting. It also offers a rare look at modern Native American life, exploring the ambiguity of what it means to say that the laws of the white man cannot be enforced on Indian territory.

Variety Robert Koehler

No trendsetter or breakthrough, this is more than anything else a welcome chance for the fine actor Melissa Leo to finally dominate a film in a terrific and affecting lead role.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

All in all, Frozen River is gripping stuff. Except it's also rigged and cheaply manipulative.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

If we're going to be honest, we need to look inside and ask ourselves: Do we really want to see a listless movie about a woman whose dream is to move into a double-wide trailer?

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Has moments of honesty, but more often the barren landscape - both outside and inside - drains the emotions out of the film.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joan gave it a10:
As an avid movie-goer who goes to the movies at least once a week, I vote this film the best film of the year. A powerful story beautifully written and photographed with a gritty and dynamic performance by the vastly underrated Melissa Leo who is more than ably supported by a fine cast of actors, particularly Misty Upham.

Chad S. gave it a9:
This is not Woody Allen's New York. This New York has a bingo parlour, a trailer park, an Indian reservation. Annie Hall doesn't live here. Ray Eddy(Melissa Leo) lives here. And her New York wouldn't look more romantic shot in black and white with "Rhapsody in Blue" insinuating itself on the soundtrack. Ray is so poor, she has problems making payments on a mobile home. Because she's poor, Ray gets to know the "Indians" in a way that Annie Hall, or any one of Allen's characters never would. "Frozen River" treats Native Americans as people, flawed people, real people, instead of people that are inherently noble because they had their land stolen from them. People like Lila(Misty Upham), who helps Chinese illegals cross the Canadian border into New York State. To Ray, Lila is just "some Indian chick". To help herself realize the dream of owning a "double-wide trailer"(oh, that is so sad), Ray joins forces with the Native American woman, as the film ingeniously comments on the historical relationship between the natives and the settlers through this tenuous bond of renegade women without being the least bit didactic about it. "Frozen River" plays out like a film with post-colonial ideals, but then the film suddenly, dramatically, becomes self-reflexive about it's post-colonialism when Ray tells Lila, "Now we're even," after she gets back what's rightfully hers. These loaded words hang in the air without the slightest indication by Ray of her own naivety. Post-colonial theory is predicated on having a short memory. Ray's words are a perfect encapsulation of their selective thinking process. "Frozen River" portrays white man's guilt over the Indian holocaust without the well-meaning fabulism of Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves", choosing instead to suture the rift between both peoples through sublimation. Both Ray and Lila live in a vacuum(but the film doesn't). When they befriend each other, both women are unaware that they're correcting the past.

Bea R. gave it a10:
At last ... a really great movie made in the last few years. (I had given up hope.) The fascinating tale was flawlessly written and directed. It's neither plot nor character driven ... it's both ... as great literature should be. Amazing performances by Leo, Upham, and the kids. A beautiful, deadly setting in a frozen winterscape completes the artistic whole. (One reviewer felt the cold made the viewer listless ... what a stupid thing to say!).

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Frozen River Sony Pictures Classics

Frozen River
Sony Pictures Classics