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Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Harrelson gives us layers of hurt under a callous yet needy crust. It may be the best performance of his career and certainly deserves Oscar consideration. Read more
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Some jobs are dirtier than others, and after seeing director and co-writer Oren Moverman's beautifully acted new film The Messenger, you'll be better acquainted with some of the most grueling work a human being can be called upon to perform. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: I'm not sure how Morton made sense of her character's ebbs and flows, but I never doubted her. She's a mariner in uncharted seas of emotion. Read more
Noel Murray, AV Club: Many scenes in The Messenger feel merely illustrative, not designed to develop characters and story so much as to make the point, over and over, that the home front can be as harrowing as the front lines. Read more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The Messenger delivers what it has to say without sensationalism or political posturing. That restraint, along with the quality of the performances, makes it all the more powerful. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: A forcefully acted and peculiar emotional drama... Read more
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Foster leaves you hoping that Will finds his way home. Read more
David Germain, Associated Press: A story that strays about without finding its center. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Whenever writer-director Oren Moverman moves past these scattered and admittedly voyeuristic moments into the lives of the two soldiers, the movie drifts into received wisdom and unconvincing romance. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It brings home the horror of the Iraq war in a way that much of our TV news media have failed to do. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: The beauty in Foster's portrayal is that it never completely explodes, but anger and aching seethe behind his eyes. Harrelson, meanwhile, is a good old boy with a bad old job. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The Messenger honors those who fought and died in Iraq by acting out, with an anguished handheld immediacy, how large each of those sacrifices really is. Read more
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Harrelson's calm performance anchors the film, and whenever the story drifts back to him and his cautious friendship with Foster, the flick feels true. Read more
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: With the insight and sensitivity of an insider, The Messenger illuminates the sometimes invisible victims of war -- the survivors -- and a pain that is tolerated but never quite healed. Read more
David Denby, New Yorker: This is a fully felt, morally alert, marvellously acted piece of work. Despite the grim subject, it's a sweet-tempered movie, with moments of explosive humor -- an entertainment. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: What The Messenger has going for it is some sober, straightforward direction from Oren Moverman and a few strong performances. Read more
Bob Mondello, NPR: Messengers with the worst possible message, they nonetheless manage to be human and alive .... In a film that itself bears sad tidings about the costs of war, that is an affirming, even an inspiring, gift. Read more
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: A somber drama about intimate wartime tragedies, Oren Moverman's debut feels more respectful than real. Read more
Kyle Smith, New York Post: A shoddy, shouty bore. A piece of flummery. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: At its center lie three accomplished performances, by Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton, that are not to be missed. Read more
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: For all the film's gritty verisimilitude, The Messenger is not the great Iraq War movie that Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The Messenger knows that even if it tells a tearjerking story, it doesn't have to be a tearjerker. In fact, when a sad story tries too hard, it can be fatal. Read more
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The Messenger, showing humanity under siege, opens wounds inflicted by the Iraq War -- not on the battlefield but in the hearts of the families of soldiers who never made it back home. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The Messenger is a privileged glimpse into people's private pain, a drama shot with the simplicity and immediacy of a documentary. Read more
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This is a poignant war movie, but it's also a buddy movie with a difference, one that's both funny and bleak. Read more
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This film doesn't take political sides -- and it's all the more heartbreaking because of its restraint. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The bombshell is the news of a soldier's death and the delivery of that message is the heart of this unsentimental, yet deeply moving, story. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The film is premised on the verbal communication of urgent information, yet its many non-verbal moments provide the greatest strength and clarity. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: This is a wholly different look at the fallout of the Iraq War and its effect on soldiers and civilians. It is also a gentle portrait of grief, friendship and solace. Read more
Peter Debruge, Variety: The Messenger manages to be both practical and patriotic in the same breath, zeroing in on one of the most painful aspects of wartime. Read more
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Together, under the assured direction of first-time feature filmmaker Oren Moverman, these three actors tell a story that is at once hard-hitting and bizarrely gentle. Read more