Washington Post by Ann Hornaday

The narrative is lean, the supporting performances are solid, and, perhaps most crucially, the emotional tone of the piece is spot-on.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

Star Michael Caine, who gives one of the great, inescapably moving performances in a career filled with them, based his character on personal impressions of the late author. And Greene's lifelong concern with moral ambiguity gives this film a texture and complexity that movies don't usually achieve.

Time by Richard Corliss

As thoughtful as it is handsomely acted. Caine's subtle, bold performance should guarantee him an aisle seat on Oscar night.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Noyce's movie pares away the novel's meditations on the futility of war and the importance of religion. It retains the book's thoughtful blending of psychological and moral issues.

Newsweek by David Ansen

Far from being a period piece, this love story/murder mystery/political thriller couldn’t seem more timely.

Portland Oregonian by Shawn Levy

The film reveals itself to be not so much a historical allegory as an Iliad of the heart. It's sad and smart and beautiful and true.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

It is a film with a political point of view, but often its characters lose sight of that, in their fascination with each other and with the girl.

Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow

This thoroughly modern movie pulls off a classical feat. It elicits the searing combination of pity and terror that leaves a viewer feeling purged.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

An instant classic and a dramatic beauty, a film that gets us to the core of Greene's chilly, dark and romantic view of the post-war world.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Noyce's movie works because the director -- trusts himself, and his audience, to understand that catastrophe isn't always a matter of loud ideology. Rather, it's the result of age-old human weakness. And sometimes it's quiet.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Thanks to Caine's subtly nuanced performance, there's a deeper dimension to everything. He's snappily ironic at times, sometimes amazingly delicate, always engaging.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

Fowler may be the richest character of Mr. Caine's screen career. Slipping into his skin with an effortless grace, this great English actor gives a performance of astonishing understatement whose tone wavers delicately between irony and sadness.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

Ever since the movie made a brief appearance late last year to qualify for Oscar consideration, Mr. Caine's performance has been hailed as the best of his career, and surely that's true.

Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten

In so many ways, The Quiet American speaks volumes.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

The key to why the new ''American'' is so good and so true, though, is Brendan Fraser as the title character.

Variety by Todd McCarthy

One of Caine's meatiest roles, and he handles it with power, humanity and remarkable emotional fluidity; from the opening moments, an enormous amount comes through his eyes alone.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

Even as The Quiet American loses focus and urgency, Caine's performance keeps the doomed spirit of Greene's hero intact.

New York Daily News by Jami Bernard

The movie adds nothing to the political dialogue, and the love story is mood-killingly sad. The lure of the exotic can be deceptive, it says. The moody, murky atmosphere leaves nothing clear except that mixed intentions will always yield mixed results.