Poster © Focus Features. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreCrime, Drama & Thriller
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 20 mins
ReleasedMarch 29, 2013
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorDerek Cianfrance
StarringRyan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes
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The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Place Beyond the Pines's Details | |
| Genre | Crime, Drama & Thriller |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 09/07/2012 (Toronto); 03/29/2013 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 20 mins |
| Budget | $15M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| The Place Beyond the Pines's Interests | |
| General | Motorcycles, face tattoos, carnival lights, small-town banks, the woods outside Schenectady. |
| Music | Mike Patton, with Arvo Pärt and Bon Iver also on the soundtrack. |
| Movies | Blue Valentine (2010), same director, same heartache. Drive (2011), Gosling with a getaway plan. |
| Television | Sons of Anarchy. More motorcycles, more trouble. |
| Heroes | Robin. The mechanic with the worst ideas in upstate New York. |
| The Place Beyond the Pines's Crew | |
| Director | Derek Cianfrance |
| Writers | Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder, Derek Cianfrance (story), Ben Coccio (story) |
| Producers | Sidney Kimmel, Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell Taylor, Alex Orlovsky |
| Cinematography | Sean Bobbitt |
| Music | Mike Patton |
| Edited By | Jim Helton, Ron Patane |
| Production | Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Electric City Entertainment, Verisimilitude |
| Distributed By | Focus Features |
Three movies stapled together, and by the last one you can feel the staples. The first chapter is a knockout. Ryan Gosling plays Luke, a carnival stunt rider so desperate to matter to his baby son that he grabs every wrong choice within reach, and the motorcycle chases are shot so close you can practically taste the exhaust. Ben Mendelsohn is perfect as the mechanic with the very bad idea. Then the story shifts to Bradley Cooper’s rookie cop, and his guilt and ambition drive a sharp second act. The third chapter jumps ahead and leans hard on coincidence, while Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen do their best with thin material. At 140 minutes, it wants to be an epic about fathers and sons, and it mostly earns the try. It made $47.2 million worldwide on a reported $15M. A 7.1 because the first hour is great and the rest keeps reaching. $337 says you hear a motorcycle outside tonight and picture it doing loops inside a steel globe.
What works: Ryan Gosling’s chapter is tense and heartbreaking, and the motorcycle chases feel dangerous and real.
What doesn’t: The final chapter runs on coincidence, and at 140 minutes the handoffs between stories make the whole thing feel heavy.
Who it’s for: Patient crime-drama fans who like stories about fathers, sons and choices that echo for years.
Spoilers
Luke dies in a standoff with Avery after a robbery, and Avery builds a political career while hiding his guilt. Fifteen years later their sons become friends without knowing the history, and Jason, after learning the truth, lets Avery go and rides off on a motorcycle.
Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling) rides a motorcycle inside a steel globe for a traveling carnival. Passing through Schenectady, New York, he looks up his old flame Romina (Eva Mendes) and learns she has a baby son, Jason, and that the boy is his. Romina has a new partner, Kofi (Mahershala Ali), and doubts Luke can offer anything. Luke quits the carnival to stay close and starts working for Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), a mechanic with a very bad idea about how to earn real money. Across town, a rookie cop named Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) is working his way up. Derek Cianfrance directs. One hundred forty minutes, heavy on consequences.
Anyone who rides fast and thinks later.
| Ryan Gosling | Luke Glanton |
| Bradley Cooper | Avery Cross |
| Eva Mendes | Romina |
| Dane DeHaan | Jason |
| Emory Cohen | AJ |
| Rose Byrne | Jennifer |
| Mahershala Ali | Kofi |
| Bruce Greenwood | Bill Killcullen |
| Harris Yulin | Al Cross |
| Ben Mendelsohn | Robin |
| Ray Liotta | Deluca |
| Robert Clohessy | Chief Weirzbowski |
| Gabe Fazio | Scott |
| Olga Merediz | Malena |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.3 / 10 (313,704 votes) → 7.3 / 10 (313,718 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $47.2M; Domestic box office $21.4M; Opening weekend $279K; Profit / loss (est.) +$1.1M; Rotten Tomatoes 79%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 79% (225 reviews); Metacritic 68 / 100; IMDb users 7.3 / 10 (313,704 votes); movie.guru score 7.7.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.