ExploreCompareKidsFind Your IQMy TVITonightScore My ListBlogAboutNewsletterHow We ScoreJoin Founding Circle

Explore / drama

21 Grams IQ Score 160/200

21 Grams has an IQ Score of 160/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

dramainternational
160/ 200
Masterclass

Exceptional cognitive and educational substance, delivered with craft that sustains close attention

21 Grams poster, IQ Score 160/200, Masterclass tier on TV Intelligentsia

Score Breakdown

Cognitive Stimulation/50
41
Educational Value/50
38
Craft & Quality/50
41
IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4)  · How we score →
What these dimensions mean
  • Cognitive Stimulation: how much the title demands of your mind, its structural complexity, ideas, and sustained intellectual engagement.
  • Educational Value: what you take away, across academic content, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, life skills, and knowledge transfer.
  • Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

Saves to your browser. See your Personal IQ on My TVI →

Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH
Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.
Formula
round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)
Database scale
2,597 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2003 second feature, three interlocking stories told in non-chronological order, anchored by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio del Toro. The structural commitment to letting the fragmented-timeline render the moral architecture of grief and culpability is canonical mid-2000s American-international auteur cinema.

People & Production Alejandro González Iñárritu · This is that corporation · United States 23 connections

On screen & sound

Selected cast
Sean Penn Naomi Watts Benicio del Toro Danny Huston Charlotte Gainsbourg Eddie MarsanSelected in source order; not represented as billing order.
Cinematography

Production & release

Production company
Distributor
Country of origin
Original language

Related works

Story cycle

Credits and relationships: Wikidata, CC0. TVI preserves production, broadcasting, and distribution as separate roles.

Follow this thread

Keep going through a creator, company, network, or connected work.

Explore the connection →

Where to Watch

See all options on JustWatch →

Streaming availability data via JustWatch + TMDB. Updated weekly; check the provider for current pricing.

Where to go next

Cite this score

21 Grams scored 160/200 (Masterclass tier) on TV Intelligentsia's published methodology. Source: tvintelligentsia.com/titles/21-grams/

Public score feed (JSON) How we score →
Where to next?

Get scores for new titles every week.

The Intelligentsia Report, every Saturday. Free.

Founding Circle · the first 100

Lifetime premium access. $99 once.

Founders Wall, monthly Founders Newsletter, quarterly Deep Dive, two title requests a year, first access to everything new. 6-month full refund.

Join Founding Circle →

Want the bigger picture? Score your whole watchlist →