The DetailsMovie Reviews

So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 56 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.

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The Details has a light tone, but it's anything but light in purpose. It's committed and passionate, one of the most perceptive and morally persuasive movies of 2012. Read full review

  • 75
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Tobey Maguire's characteristic placidity makes a fine mask for a man who is thoroughly awful. Read full review

  • 70
    Village Voice |

    Top-shelf cast, headed by Tobey Maguire, slips into familiar grooves of adultery, lies, blackmail, and pet poisoning, it's the spectacular blow-ups and dressing-downs that make this such a nervy pleasure. Read full review

  • 65
    NPR |

    In The Details' finest moments, writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes exerts a precise control over tone using sound and performance; in its worst moments, the score and actors overcompensate for weak material. Those elements let Estes get away with often-indulgent writing, throwing up whole scenes that don't add texture or conflict. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Mark Feeney

    Manages to be both compelling and unsatisfying. But what limits it isn't lack of execution. The movie is many things, but a mess isn't one of them. Estes knows exactly what he wants. Whether it's worth wanting is another matter. Read full review

  • 58
    The Playlist | Cory Everett

    Described as an "existential horror film," The Details can't quite reach the same level of excellence as The Coen Brothers' recent "A Serious Man," another film about a man being punished (or rewarded) by fate based on his actions. Read full review

  • 40
    Time Out New York |

    If only writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes had bothered to dig a little bit deeper than those damn raccoons did. Read full review

  • 33
    indieWIRE | Eric Kohn

    It's a familiar mold: the perils of suburban discontent have been so thoroughly explored that The Details plays like a hodgepodge of familiar circumstances on an assembly line to disaster. Read full review

  • 25
    Slant Magazine | Andrew Schenker

    The Details is as smug and self-satisfied as its privileged lead character. Read full review

  • 25
    New York Post | Kyle Smith

    Cancels itself out by being too campy to take seriously and too tragic to laugh at. Read full review

View more reviews for The Details on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Bad choices and immoral acts go unpunished in dark comedy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that The Details is a dark comedy about a not-so-likeable man (Tobey Maguire) who commits some pretty heinous deeds. He lies, cheats on his wife, considers murder, and even intentionally runs his car over an animal. Other people in the film are just as unpleasant, and nobody really gets what they deserve. There's plenty of swearing (including multiple variations on "f--k"), some drinking, and one scene in which people smoke pot. There's also a rather bloody murder involving a bow and three sex scenes in which bare backsides are glimpsed and oral sex is suggested. A character masturbates to online porn. (The movie is also available on demand.)
  • Families can talk about The Details' characters. Do any of them have redeeming qualities? Are they sympathetic? Does a movie need to have relatable characters to succeed?
  • How does the movie portray marriage? How does it compare to other movie marriages?
  • Why do you think Jeff cheats on his wife? Why does he dream about an innocent woman getting killed? Does he get what he deserves?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Almost everyone in this film lies, cheats, steals, or worse -- and nobody seems to get what they richly deserve. The innocent are punished, while the guilty get to live a good life. There's simply no justice here.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Though Jeff Lang plays Good Samaritan to help a friend in need, he has few other redeeming characteristics. He cheats on his wife, scams his way through medical school, plots a murder, and even tries some illegal home improvements. And worst of all, it seems like he might get away with all of it.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: A few heated arguments and one rather gruesome, bloody murder using a bow. A man intentionally drives over an animal and then puts the car in reverse and does it again, just to be sure.
  • sex false4 Sexy stuff: A few sex scenes, some featuring quick glimpses of naked backsides and suggestions of oral sex. A husband and wife argue about their sex life, and the man sometimes masturbates to online pornography.
  • language false4 Language: Frequent swearing includes many permutations of "f--k," plus "s--t," "whore," and more.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: One character mentions grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, and a Nike shoe is visible in an early scene.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Two characters get drunk in a bar, then go smoke a joint and fondly recall the times they got wasted in medical school. People drink wine and other alcoholic beverages at social events and meals.
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