American Made
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 29, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
18
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
We Got This CoveredRobert Yaniz Jr.Oct 1, 2017
Overall, this isn’t a bad movie, just one that feels at odds with itself. Despite its flaws though, American Made is a fun enough ride and features yet another winsome Cruise performance. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 28, 2017
American Made is one of the many children of “Goodfellas,” a true-crime story turned first-person narrative told by a charismatic ne’er-do-well surrounded by dubious characters and tantalizing subplots. None of these offspring, including American Made, have matched the chilling grandeur of Martin Scorsese’s 1990 masterpiece, with its multifaceted characters and visual fluidity. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 28, 2017
Mr. Cruise’s brisk, ingratiating performance — all smiles, hard-charging physicality and beads of sweat — does a lot to soften the edges. But Mr. Liman doesn’t press Mr. Cruise to dig into the character, and the actor mostly hurdles forward in a movie that never gets around to asking what makes Barry run and why. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneySep 27, 2017
It isn’t the charged biopic that a story as fascinating as Seal’s deserves, but it has enough rambunctious delights to get by. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 24, 2017
The beamingly ingenuous Cruise, whose character is not burdened with any doubts or an inner life, somehow sells it to you. Read full review
60
CineVueMartyn ConterioAug 24, 2017
Cruise rides the Breaking Bad and Narcos train, only not as well as either. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 24, 2017
The film is much too anxious – desperately so – for us to feel that Barry is a fundamentally decent guy. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonAnna SmithAug 23, 2017
Liman mines the story for familiar but fun comedy...though it never reaches the comedic heights of rise-and-fall classics such as Goodfellas or The Wolf of Wall Street. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinAug 17, 2017
This is yet another hyper-competent, boyishly devil-may-care character that offers Cruise, famous for his derring-do on set, a chance to do his own stunts and fly a plane; it’s not a role all that far out of the ageing megastar’s wheelhouse. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 29, 2017
Cruise gives his energetic all to the role, but he, too, doesn’t seem to be quite aware that Seal was morally compromised far beyond the shallow confines of this film. Read full review
55
TheWrapJason SolomonsAug 17, 2017
Liman’s tone, channelled through Cruise gently straining to deconstruct his own iconography, achieves neither real comedy nor actual tension. The movie feels lightweight, even while pointing fingers at the American government’s meddling foreign policy and lies. Read full review
50
SlateSam AdamsSep 28, 2017
Barry is the closest thing Tom Cruise has played to a regular Joe in more than a decade, and the part isn’t a snug fit. Read full review
50
VoxAlissa WilkinsonSep 28, 2017
It’s not that American Made doesn’t have anything to say; it’s just that whatever it has to say has been said better somewhere else. It’s not bad; it’s not good, either. It’s just shallow. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 28, 2017
Cruise plays Barry as an aw-shucks raconteur, and the routine is amusing at first. But midway through American Made, even Cruise devotees might decide enough is enough. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsSep 28, 2017
American Made may be superficially a condemnation of the hypocritical American impulse to take drug suppliers' money with one hand and chastise users with the other. But it's mostly a sensational, sub-"Wolf of Wall Street"-style true crime story that attempts to seduce you, then abandon you. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonSep 28, 2017
Doug Liman may effectively maintain a madcap energy through to the end, but unlike Adam McKay or Martin Scorsese, he isn't all that interested in explicating the complex inner workings of vast criminal enterprises. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenSep 27, 2017
Cruise and company wanted to make American Made a fun and often funny ride, but there’s something oddly joyless about the whole enterprise. Its overweening cynicism leaves a curdled aftertaste. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 27, 2017
Even while we’re watching it, a funny feeling sets in. Lots of things happen in American Made, but it’s as if the frenetic pace is to keep us from thinking about what we’re watching. Read full review
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