Civic DutyMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Civic Duty."

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 48 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    Though Civic Duty seems to be a study in paranoid psychosis, it has just enough ambiguity to make you wonder if it isn't something else. You'll still be wondering when it's all over. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    While the film doesn't fully succeed in its striving for a Hitchcock-style ambiguity in its storytelling, it is consistently engrossing in its exploration of the fine line between civic duty and vigilantism. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    By the time the movie introduces an element of ambivalence in the story, lecture hall ennui has long ago set in, and no amount of jittery horror movie conventions can change it. With nowhere for any of the characters to go, literally, the story becomes a tendentious exercise in belaboring a point. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Justin Chang

    Unfolding largely within the confines of a single apartment complex, the well-structured scenario is arresting but ill-served by an overly fussy visual treatment from helmer Jeff Renfroe, while Peter Krause's increasingly psychotic performance as an amateur snoop frequently threatens to cross the line between forceful and off-putting. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    A noble try that disappoints. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    The film is all cliched atmospherics and no real insight. Read full review

  • 50
    The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias

    Shooting in digital video, director Jeff Renfroe needlessly amps up the proceedings with jittery camerawork, jump cuts, and other technical hiccups meant to disorient the audience. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times |

    Initially promising, ultimately irritating psychological thriller. Read full review

  • 50
    Austin Chronicle | Marjorie Baumgarten

    Civic Duty stands out amid the new wave of terrorism-paranoia thrillers. It's a taut drama set primarily within the confines of two apartments in the same urban building complex and keeps the viewer guessing until the end regarding the reliability of its two central protagonists. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    Faced with a limited location and concept, Renfroe points his camera everywhere: The movie's seriously overshot, never settling for one angle when five would do. Read full review

View more reviews for Civic Duty on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Terrorism themes + paranoia = not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this mature thriller explores the connections between media-induced paranoia, individual madness, and terrorism. The focus on one man's increasingly doubtful perspective makes the plot ever murkier -- it's hard to tell what's real and what he's imagining. Violence includes hostage-taking at gunpoint, fighting/punching and bloody faces, a man hitting his wife, and a SWAT team storming a door with automatic weapons drawn. A brief early sex scene isn't explicit (close-ups of faces are shown in silhouette). Language reflects the movie's increasing tension and anger, with many uses of "f--k," plus "s--t" and a string of anti-Arab racist terms (including a variation on the "N" word).
  • Families can talk about the media's effect on people's fears and opinions of others. For example, do TV news reports frame reports of terrorist threats in a way that encourages viewers to suspect their neighbors or distrust people who look or act different from them? If so, how and why? Are news reports ever truly objective? How would you respond to someone who looks "suspicious"? And who defines what "suspicious" means in the first place?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The increasingly paranoid protagonist looks more and more untrustworthy; the neighbor he suspects of terrorism poses difficult questions about vengeance, grief, and honor; police and FBI appear generally ineffective.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Repeated reports and warnings about terrorist violence (bombs, virus, poison, battles) include numbers of lives lost; reports on hate crimes include brief glimpses of news-style footage. Character uses a gun to hold a hostage; some fighting leaves men with bloody faces and bruises; SWAT team with automatic weapons storms a door; police takedown involves smashing their target to the ground.
  • sex false3 Sex: Kissing and standard in-bed sex between husband and wife (silhouetted close-ups of faces and arms, nothing explicit); joke about sex ("You wanna see my calculator, baby?"); discussion about wife's previous "fetish for rock stars."
  • language false5 Language: Profanity includes repeated use of "f--k," plus "s--t," "damn," and "ass." Racist terms are used as examples ("raghead," "camel jockey," "sand n---er").
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Civic Duty Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 151 fan reviews

Critics say

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