DeadfallMovie Reviews

So-so

Avg. Critic Score: 52 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 16+

Read Common Sense Media review

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

75

Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan
There's a powerfully creepy sensibility to Deadfall. But the way it handles the messiness of families -- a universal message given vivid metaphorical life in the blood and guts it leaves in its path -- is finally rewarding. Read full review
75

St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Calvin Wilson
Bana ("Munich") makes an effective bad guy. Hunnam portrays Jay as a hero worth rooting for. And Wilde turns in a nuanced performance as a woman in conflict with herself. Read full review
75

New York Observer | Rex Reed
Deadfall is an above-average genre piece with a terrific cast that builds to a bloody Thanksgiving dinner shoot-out I found pretty close to unforgettable. Read full review
70

The Hollywood Reporter |
Tonally, Deadfall seems to be aiming somewhere between Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" and the brilliant Pine Barrens episode of "The Sopranos," with a classic Western showdown at its climax. But the pedestrian writing holds it back. Read full review
63

ReelViews | James Berardinelli
Deadfall suffers most obviously from a sense of not being adequately developed. Read full review
55

NPR | Mark Jenkins
The movie's violence, although gruesome, flirts with slapstick, and the story appears bound for domestic comedy when all the major characters sit down for Thanksgiving dinner at June and Chet's grand Victorian farmhouse. But the meal becomes more freak show than satire. Read full review
50

San Francisco Chronicle | Walter Addiego
Despite a super-dark noir plot and respectable cast, Deadfall is a thriller that never quite delivers on its promise. Read full review
50

Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman
There isn't much to the characters in this morose thriller. Read full review
40

New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier
If Deadfall had more life, it might have been about more than just its wannabe edge. Ruzowitzky, whose 2007 film "The Counterfeiters" won a Best Foreign Film Oscar, understands the movie's simple plan. But it nonetheless puts us into a big sleep. Read full review
38

Boston Globe | Ty Burr
Wilde is stuck with the harder job of simultaneously playing sexy, innocent, conniving, and heartsore, and the effort appears to give her a headache. "This is kind of like an old movie," Liza says to Jay in one scene. Lady, don't you wish. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Deadfall on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Violent Thanksgiving-set thriller isn't family friendly.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Deadfall is a thriller with some strong violence and sexual situations. Though it's set over the Thanksgiving holiday, it isn't family-friendly entertainment: Many characters are morally ambiguous, and the story deals with troubled family relationships. The main female character has sex twice and is briefly seen topless, and there are some bloody killings/injuries, guns and shootings, stabbings, and severed fingers. Language is strong and includes several uses of "f--k" and "s--t" throughout. There's some background drinking and smoking, and one character is shown to be a mean, intimidating drunk.

Families can talk about Deadfall's violence. How does its impact compare to what you've seen in other action/thriller movies? Does it seem over-the-top?
What are the dynamics like in the various families shown in this story? Are any of them problem-free? Do any of them have similar problems?
What is the brother-sister relationship like between the main characters? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How well do they communicate?
How does the movie portray sex? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

The good stuff

Positive messages: Many characters are morally ambiguous, and the story deals with troubled family relationships. But a character gets out from under the influence of her bad-news brother and learns that she might be capable of -- and deserve -- a more positive and hopeful life. A few moments of families taking care of one another.
Positive role models: The main character, a robber, is mostly terrible, though he does try to help out a family in need in his own way. And his sister comes to realize that she might be worth more than she thought. Characters in smaller roles are generally kind and helpful, even if they have their assorted flaws, problems, and bad luck.

What to watch for

Violence: The main character is a bank robber who kills at least three people over the course of the movie. Another of the major characters accidentally kills a man during a fight. A character dies in a car crash. Guns are fired. People are stabbed. Some blood is shown. There's a fight that results in fingers being chopped off; the victim cauterizes the wound on a hot snowmobile engine. A man's neck is sliced on a barbed-wire fence.
Sexy stuff: The main female character has sex twice with a man she has just met. During the second scene, she's briefly shown topless. The man's naked bottom is shown.
Language: "F--k" and "s--t" are used several times, as are "a--hole," "hell," and "bitch."
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: A minor character is shown to be a mean drunk, frightening his wife and stepchildren. The main character takes a few swigs from bottles of booze. Main characters occasionally smoke cigarettes. Other characters drink socially in a bar.

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