All Good Things
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: December 3, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDec 24, 2010
The key to the film is in the character of David. One can imagine a scenario in which an overbearing father drives the son to rebellion, but what happens here is more complex and sinister. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid FearDec 6, 2010
It's a juicy story, though that doesn't excuse Jarecki from fixating above all else on the tabloid-ready twists and pop-psychological turns of Durst's story. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 21, 2010
Jarecki's not remotely in Scorsese's league yet, but he knows New York and he has seen the dark soul of man. Maybe next time he won't blink. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 17, 2010
All Good Things is a "true crime" drama with speculative scenarios and a kind of deliberately murky aura. It's a strange, thrilling tale begrimed by bad memories, by bad deeds. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedDec 6, 2010
You go away slack-jawed with shock and sated with the chilling bedtime-story elements of a great unsolved mystery novel you can't put down. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickDec 6, 2010
Though the movie doesn't use real names and the press notes say it's "inspired" by the Durst case, it seems to follow many of the facts rather closely -- all the while mixing in not a little provocative speculation. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreDec 6, 2010
It's not the smoothest thriller. But All Good Things is thoroughly engrossing, a roman a clef that chillingly ponders a puzzle and suggests solutions outlandish enough to be stranger than anything Hollywood, on its own, could make up. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 6, 2010
The result is a potent and provocative movie that will keep you up nights. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesDec 30, 2010
The movie implies that Durst murdered his wife, but the unsolved crime turns out to be less mysterious than the mind of the killer, nervily portrayed by Gosling as not evil but unaccountably empty. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 6, 2010
The film ends up wrestling itself into a corner, though it's saved by a corrosive central performance from Ryan Gosling and a disconcertingly hypnotic feel. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenDec 6, 2010
Despite some choppy transitions and a few melodramatic moments that don't work, the film casts an effective, deepening chill. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 6, 2010
Certainly the fictionalized brood in All Good Things is equal to the Friedmans in terms of dysfunction, and they're loaded. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJan 7, 2011
It's a heavy, moody film, mimicking in its form something of the mental state of its central character, which is a nifty trick. But the quality of the craft doesn't draw you in, nor does Gosling's aloof and inward performance. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 9, 2010
All Good Things is creepy and weird and sad, and little else. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 6, 2010
The film, although deeply flawed, is at times compelling, even if it seems as if a reel is missing. Read full review
60
MovielineMichelle OrangeDec 6, 2010
The film presents the rare instance of a true story that has been fictionalized and yet seems bent on cleaving to its least useful facts. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasDec 6, 2010
Here's a story about a man who befriended and eventually killed a Texan while going incognito as an exceptionally frumpy woman, then was eventually nabbed shoplifting a chicken-salad sandwich while carrying more than $500 in his pocket. Why underplay that? Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJan 20, 2011
You watch it in stunned disbelief, wondering how a movie that started so strongly devolved into something so absurd. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 30, 2010
Gosling, as the Durst-like David Marks, is scarily effective before his performance turns opaque and horror-movie-ish. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 23, 2010
There's a fascinating story here for a bolder filmmaker, but after so much meandering it's a relief that "All Good Things" must come to an end. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 16, 2010
Dunst is not the only person doing quality work in All Good Things, but she is the only one worth watching. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 9, 2010
The good thing about All Good Things - that would be Kirsten Dunst, for if there is one thing this strange and creepy film does well it is remind us of just what a talented actress she is. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineAmy NicholsonDec 7, 2010
This is a soap opera that stands at a distance from its characters (that distance being the length of a lawyer's briefcase) and, though handsome and capable, feels as inert as mannequins in a shop window. Read full review
42
NPRIan BuckwalterDec 6, 2010
What's most surprising, given the latitude provided by all that conjecture, is that the Durst - "David Marks" for the purposes of the film - who emerges is less a character study than a thumbnail sketch. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangDec 6, 2010
The more the film implicates David, the more it distances itself and the viewer, playing out in the emotionally detached but sensationalistic, overripe manner of a tabloid freakshow. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick PinkertonDec 6, 2010
All Good Things patina of fictionalization has not prevented the cagey Durst Organization from threatening a lawsuit. They need not worry, though. The film succeeds only in indicting its authors. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 9, 2010
The result is a queasy combination of speculation and dramatic invention with the ring of half-truth, though the co-stars, Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst, add as much color as they can - not much - to a monochromatic script. Read full review
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