Critic Reviews

• Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

  Goldberger gets a few good tonal feints in, especially when he consults the Coen recipe book for the disorienting effect of blood (and bloody violence) on American simple folk.

• Manohla Dargis, New York Times

  When you pack your movie with performers like Mr. Church, Ms. Leo, Mr. Rebhorn and Keith David (as Donâ(TM)s old friend), all with faces and deliveries that can slide easily between comedy and menace, youâ(TM)re holding a full house.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  Don McKay certainly has its moments, but it never manages to maintain the consistent tone so crucial if a black comedy is going to actually be funny.

• Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

  This is a movie that, if you can make it to the last 30 minutes, starts to make some sense. It seems the plot twist is the only good idea in the script.

• David Germain, Associated Press

  An admirable attempt even if the film only works spottily.

• Michelle Orange, Village Voice

  A strange, largely inert indie thriller.

• David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

  ...an almost aggressively pointless piece of work that simply isn't able to justify its very existence.

• Brian Orndorf, DVDTalk.com

  Labored and distractingly uneven, Don McKay comes across as a lackadaisical film school writing assignment that somehow lucked into a feature film deal.

• James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

  Goldberger makes the most of his eclectic, multi-Oscar-nominated cast to make up for the lack of scope and visual panache, not to mention the sometimes strained machinations of his plot

• Kam Williams, Sly Fox

  An entertaining enough diversion, though in this critic's opinion it veers sharply from the sublime to the ridiculous.

• Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com

  The tone and the pacing always seem a little off and as a result, we become all too aware of mechanics of the screenplay grinding along towards a finale that is simply too complicated and unbelievable for its own good.

• Pete Hammond, Boxoffice Magazine

  Clearly Goldberger thinks he can juggle this delicate noirish soufflé but it all comes crashing down around him because the true nature of his characters' actions just don't make a whole lot of sense.

• Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  [Director] Greenberg's tyro script is both dark comedy and slick whodunit and all the players do it justice. He handles his material and fine cast with a deft hand that belies his freshman status.

• Kurt Loder, MTV

  Church's performance could be stuffed and mounted with no loss of liveliness.

• James Verniere, Boston Herald

  First-time writer-director Jake Goldberger may have a great film in him. But "Don McKay" isn't it.

• Jules Brenner, Filmcritic.com

  Savvy viewers aren't likely to get too invested in these characters and their dilemmas, if only because the style of this parody of wish fulfillment will tip most of them off about the plot's misrepresentations in advance

• Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  ...doesn't have the most tightly written script, but off kilter performances, particularly a hilariously determined Elisabeth Shue as the femme fatale Sonny...keep things bubbling along as the plot rolls to a boil over.

• Annlee Ellingson, Moving Pictures Magazine

  Thomas Haden Church wears a puzzled scowl throughout this bizarre film noir, and so will viewers as they struggle to figure out just what Jake Goldberger is going for.

• Michael C. Walsh, Boston Phoenix

  The plot unfolds like a numbed-down neo-noir, and the actors treat it as such, using overwrought dramatic turns as a springboard for delightfully hammy performances.

Read all 19 critic reviews