Critic Reviews

• David Rooney, Variety

  A turgid erotic thriller that plays like Zalman King-meets-vintage Brian De Palma without the latter's wit or style.

• , Time Out

  Inane and shopworn material with a truly cheesy final twist, this is made excruciating by direction that takes it all deadly seriously.

• Mark Adams, Hollywood Reporter

  What a great shame that such a talented director as Chen Kaige has chosen to make his English-language debut with a film so poorly plotted and scripted.

• Nathan Rabin, AV Club

  As Graham attempts to uncover the truth about his past, the film grows increasingly convoluted, leading to a twist ending that will come as a surprise only to those who've never seen a Shannon Tweed movie.

• , Total Film

  The screenplay (based on Nicci French's novel) is cringeworthy, and Kaige's inability to spot when English-speaking thesps are reciting rather than acting produces scenes that vary from lifeless to laughable.

• Robert Pardi, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  Why, you might ask, is master director Chen Kaige wasting his time on such trashy material?

• Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile

  What a disappointing waste of good talent!

• , Empire Magazine

  A hilariously bad movie that has to be seen to be believed.

• Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

  It's pretty campy-silly, but it's surprisingly watchable for some reason, maybe because of the name-brand actors sleazing it in this Skinemax would-be classic.

• Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com

  Though its rather routine script is loaded with familiar situations, the movie has a cinematic fluidity and sense of intelligence that makes it work more than it probably should.

• Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

  Spectacularly awful film that's actually funnier than many so-called comedies.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  Turkeys don't come plumper than this.

• Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic

  Fails so fundamentally on every conventional level that it achieves some kind of goofy grandeur.

• , FilmFour.com

  A risible drama, torpedoed by lifeless performances, a muddled screenplay and anonymous direction.

• Neil Smith, BBC

  With miscast leads, banal dialogue and an absurdly overblown climax, Killing Me Softly belongs firmly in the so-bad-it's-good camp.

• Alex Ramirez, Cinenganos

  Es triste tener que decirles que lo único grato de la cinta es el cuerpo desnudo de la Heather...

• Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

  Nothing about the story hangs together, the characters become increasingly stiff and unbelievable, and the incessant red herrings finally become too much to bear.

Read all 17 critic reviews