The 72nd National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2000, were announced on 6 December 2000 and given on 16 January 2001.

Top 10 films

1. Quills
2. Traffic
3. Croupier
4. You Can Count on Me
5. Billy Elliot
6. Before Night Falls
7. Gladiator
8. Wonder Boys
9. Sunshine
10. Dancer in the Dark

Top Foreign Films

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Butterfly
3. A Time for Drunken Horses
4. Malèna
5. Girl on the Bridge

Winners

• Best Film:
  • Quills
• Best Foreign Language Film:
  • Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Taiwan/Hong Kong/United States/P.R. China
• Best Actor:
  • Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls
• Best Actress:
  • Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich
• Best Supporting Actor:
  • Joaquin Phoenix - Gladiator
• Best Supporting Actress:
  • Lupe Ontiveros - Chuck & Buck
• Breakthrough Performance - Male:
  • Jamie Bell - Billy Elliot
• Breakthrough Performance - Female:
  • Michelle Rodríguez - Girlfight
• Best Acting by and Ensemble:
  • State and Main
• Best Director:
  • Steven Soderbergh - Erin Brockovich and Traffic
• Best Screenplay:
  • All the Pretty Horses - Ted Tally
• Best Documentary Feature:
  • The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
• Best Animated Feature:
  • Chicken Run
• Career Achievement Award:
  • Ellen Burstyn
• Special Filmmaking Achievement:
  • Kenneth Lonergan - You Can Count on Me
• Outstanding Production Design:
  • Arthur Max - Gladiator
• Career Achievement - Music Composition:
  • Ennio Morricone
• William K. Everson Award for Film History:
  • Roger Gottlieb and Robert Kimball, Reading Lyrics
• Special Citations:
  • Björk - Outstanding Dramatic Music Performance, Dancer in the Dark
  • Dekalog, Outstanding Cinematic Series
• Freedom of Expression:
  • A Time for Drunken Horses
  • Bamboozled
  • Before Night Falls
  • The Circle
  • Kadosh
  • Quills
  • Sound and Fury
  • The Visit
• Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking:
  • American Psycho
  • Best in Show
  • Chuck & Buck
  • Girlfight
  • Hamlet
  • Nurse Betty
  • Requiem for a Dream
  • Shower
  • Snatch
  • Two Family House