- 8
... a little silly, but it's also a skillful thriller...
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 7
...the world is as dark and doomy as ever...
—Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor
- 6
...plays like a stand-alone episode rather than drawing on the show's complex and sometimes muddled mythology...
—Maitland McDonagh TV Guide
- 5
... no improvement on predecessors.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 5
Some things never change, and even though the actors haven't lost their charm and sparkle, it feels like they're trapped in a rerun, minus the action.
—Jeremiah Kipp Slant Magazine
- 5
...is billed as a stand-alone entity accessible to newbies.
—Lou Lumenick New York Post
- 5
In not knowing who it needs to please, I Want to Believepleases no one.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 4
Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years: Watch it on TV to relive how utterly disappointed the series left you feeling six years ago.
—James Jung Maxim
- 4
...never feels remotely cinematic. It's a peculiarly dour, humorless film filled with hushed conversations against snowy, interchangeable backdrops.
—Nathan Rabin Onion AV Club
- 4
...this plodding supernatural thriller wouldn't even make a top-10-episodes list.
—Alex Markerson E!
- 4
...won't make you believe. The second feature film based on Fox's hit TV show is so down to earth, it's almost mundane.
—Jan Stuart Los Angeles Times
- 3
...the storyline behind I Want to Believe is so deadly pedestrian that it's not only shocking that David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and creator Chris Carter would have bothered trekking back up to British Columbia to film it, but that 20th Century Fox would make so much noise about keeping all the plot details a closely kept secret.
—Chris Barsanti filmcritic.com
- 3
...long before I Want to Believe reaches its anti-climax, you too may be having visions -- of the Exit sign.
—Scott Foundas LA Weekly
- 3
Baggy, draggy, oddly timed and strangely off the mark...
—Manohla Dargis New York Times
- 3
...the storyline behind I Want to Believe is so deadly pedestrian that it's not only shocking that David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and creator Chris Carter would have bothered trekking back up to British Columbia to film it, but that 20th Century Fox would make so much noise about keeping all the plot details a closely kept secret.
—Chris Barsanti Reel