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Deterrence

Play trailer Poster for Deterrence R 1999 1h 41m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
46% Tomatometer 39 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The President of the United States finds himself snowed in at a Colorado diner. The President must confront a national crisis and impending war when Iraq invades Kuwait. Trapped in the snowbound diner, faced with the prospect of a two-front war, the President has less than two hours to decide whether to deploy the ultimate weapon.

Critics Reviews

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Nell Minow Common Sense Media 12/22/2010
3/5
A president wrestles with another Iraq war. Go to Full Review
Jessica Winter Village Voice 01/01/2000
The film begins and ends with footage of FDR intoning "I hate war," something the film takes two interminable hours to say. Go to Full Review
Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle 01/01/2000
1/5
Hardly the refried Cold War piece it longs to be. Go to Full Review
Danielle Solzman Solzy at the Movies Mar 10
4/5
Twenty-five years later, Deterrence remains a thought-provoking thriller. Go to Full Review
Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com 07/16/2005
2.5/4
Lurie quickly glazes over one important bit of backstory in the early going, a point that is crucial to understand some motivation. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/30/2005
1/5
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Audience Reviews

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07/22/2016 Surpringly well acted low budget thriller See more Frances H 04/19/2016 Although this film was well acted and scripted, I hate the message that this movie puts out--that dropping nuclear weapons is necessary under some circumstances and that it is the duty of the United States to police the world. With Donald Trump vying to be president, and the fact that he says that his foreign policy against any country vs the US is to "nuke 'em, " this a dangerous film to run at this time on any TV channel. And Sean Astin's character certainly typifies the type of person who supports Trump. It's a bad example for any time and place. See more 02/12/2014 Thought provoking and sobering. Hutton was great, as usual. See more 01/05/2014 I just cannot find this movie anywhere!!!!!! See more 09/22/2012 This is the first effort from Lurie, who went on to make the superior "The Contender" after this. See more 09/25/2011 Pollak's performance is very good but the film itself falls flat. The film isn't terrible but it is nothing all that good either, simply mediocre. See more Read all reviews
Deterrence

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis The President of the United States finds himself snowed in at a Colorado diner. The President must confront a national crisis and impending war when Iraq invades Kuwait. Trapped in the snowbound diner, faced with the prospect of a two-front war, the President has less than two hours to decide whether to deploy the ultimate weapon.
Director
Rod Lurie
Producer
Marc Frydman, James Spies
Screenwriter
Rod Lurie
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
TF1 International, Moonstone Entertainment, Battleplan Productions
Rating
R (Violence|Language)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 10, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 15, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$144.6K
Runtime
1h 41m
Sound Mix
Surround