60
Hardwicke's pop-Cassavetes melodrama nevertheless rides as smoothly as a big-budget after-school special, capturing youth struggles from an appropriately blown-out teen's-eye perspective.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
Takes a surprisingly gritty approach that gives the material some gravitas but also robs it of some of its fun.
50
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Inept storytelling is one of Lords of Dogtown's great frustrations.
60
It's no surprise that when it ultimately tries to pluck at the heartstrings, it rings hollow. The film lives and dies by speed.
100
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Lords of Dogtown is a docudrama, rare in its grit and authenticity, that also strives for the mythical youth-rebel excitement of something like "8 Mile."
75
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Hardwicke whips up a frenzy of crazy-cool board action, with Alva choreographing the stunts. Even when the slippery-slope-of-success cliches halt the film's momentum, the ready-to-rock actors rev it up again.
50
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
Too much of Lords of Dogtown still feels conventional and sugar-coated.
50
It's a wipeout once the pic skids into melodrama and an overly schematic sense of how success tore the group apart.
60
Dallas Observer by Robert Wilonsky
After trying to prove himself a serious actor in deadly dull movies, Ledger lightens up and brightens up a movie that attempts the trick of bringing a new spin to an old story but can't pull off the stunt.
50
Unfortunately, whenever Ledger isn't onscreen, Lords of Dogtown takes a spill.