A Single Shot
Tribeca Film | Release Date: September 20, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
IndieWireEric KohnSep 18, 2013
The suspense comes and goes, but A Single Shot always maintains a firm grip on its sad, deteriorating environment. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenSep 18, 2013
The film charts no new territory but is terrifically cast and, like its source novel, long on atmosphere. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 17, 2013
David M. Rosenthal's sturdy, nasty rural noir, based on Matthew F. Jones's novel, is so sharp and rusted through that, after taking it in, you'll likely need a tetanus shot. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineNick SchagerJul 24, 2013
Content to faithfully hew to convention, A Single Shot rarely surprises, but its portrait of foolishness and fallibility, and its atmosphere of inevitable doom, remain sturdy and captivating. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 19, 2013
A Single Shot never rises to the level of a great film like “Winter’s Bone,” which digs much deeper in its depiction of life in the hills among the desperate poor. But thanks largely to Rockwell, it’s not bad, either. Read full review
70
The DissolveJen ChaneyAug 25, 2013
Its ongoing reveal of interconnected, rough-edged characters, as well as a tone that’s a twangy, noirish brew of the Coen brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, and Winter’s Bone, are ultimately what make the movie unsettling and absorbing. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen GarrettSep 17, 2013
Rockwell’s performance is impressively flinty, as is the rest of the cast (including William H. Macy delivering some twitchy character work), and the dialogue sparkles with brilliantly colorful mountain-man slang. Despite its byzantine narrative, the film remains never less than absorbing, as the walls slowly close in on this good-hearted but ultimately flawed protagonist. Read full review
58
The PlaylistJessica KiangSep 20, 2013
A Single Shot does not add up to anywhere near the sum of its parts. Read full review
55
NPRTomas HachardSep 20, 2013
By the end, Macy's presence is just one part of what makes A Single Shot recall the Coen brothers' "Fargo." That film's now-famous wood-chipper scene can seem strangely tame a decade and a half on, but it still has a lesson to teach: When you show violence in a story that's not really about violence, there'd better be more of a point than just making us squirm. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 20, 2013
An odd mix of beautifully bleak atmosphere and hammily mannered performances, A Single Shot is simultaneously understated and overpowering. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughSep 19, 2013
In lieu of suspense, Rosenthal relies on a mood of free-floating anxiety, enhanced by West Virginia (actually British Columbia) landscapes where the sun never shines. As one-note as the title suggests, A Single Shot misfires. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott MacDonaldSep 18, 2013
It’s largely just an opportunity for the actors to try on Ozark-y mannerisms, swig moonshine, and hock loogies. And like most exercises in authenticity, it couldn’t be more inauthentic if it tried. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 19, 2013
Mr. Rosenthal puts the story’s parts into play well enough, but once everyone and everything is in position that’s more or less where they stay as this slow story downshifts to a crawl. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanSep 19, 2013
Who would have guessed that sex, drugs and double-crossing could be so unrelentingly boring? Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 20, 2013
Both the director and writer show such patchy story sense that a lot of the buildup to the final bloodshed and malevolence registers as suspense-free clutter. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedSep 17, 2013
What passes for a plot has been done a thousand times before — in much better films than A Single Shot. Read full review
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