Ballad of a Small Player
Netflix | Release Date: October 15, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
20
Negative:
4

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinChris KnightOct 17, 2025
Still, it’s a fascinating psychological thriller, a ghost story with (as Dickens would say) more gravy than grave in its construction. Read full review
83
The Film StageDan MeccaAug 31, 2025
Ballad‘s third act is telegraphed within an inch of its life, and what a joy it is to watch it unfold. With Berger at the helm and Farrell as his lead, there is no semblance of subtlety. No chance of nuance. This is an alcohol-soaked opera, a morality tale dripping in bombast. Read full review
80
TheWrapCarla RenataOct 15, 2025
In addition to creating a brilliantly engaging narrative, Berger’s sense of cinematic style is enhanced all the way from his production and costume design to the extreme close ups that have assisted in defining his cinematic style. Read full review
63
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerOct 15, 2025
The movie illustrates the gambler’s lifestyle almost too clearly; it’s a great example of how big, splashy victories can still feel like too little, too late. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 15, 2025
Really, “Small Player” is a great movie until it abruptly isn’t. Read full review
60
Little White LiesRafaela Sales RossOct 16, 2025
The always great Farrell attempts to imbue his doomed gambler with a sliver of naïveté́ as he stumbles towards the story’s foregone conclusion, but there is little that can be done to compensate for this feeling of inevitability. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeOct 15, 2025
A classy film that doesn’t entirely make sense. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 15, 2025
It’s a movie of big moods and grand gestures, undercut by the banal inevitability of losing. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 14, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player truly puts all of it chips on its lead, and while that faith doesn’t make up for a lot of the ridiculous twists and overplayed hands leading up to a climactic streak, it’s still a smart bet. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 8, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player ends up a little too slight, a sketchy look at a familiarly doomed character. Read full review
60
Next Best PictureMatt NegliaAug 31, 2025
Even when the story stumbles, Berger’s technical skill and Farrell’s all-in performance keep it engrossing. Read full review
55
The Daily BeastNick SchagerSep 9, 2025
Stylized to the hilt but empty inside, it faithfully echoes the harried shallowness of its protagonist, whose desperate search for one big score to reverse his fortunes is all surface, no substance—the cinematic equivalent of a knock-off Rolex. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 1, 2025
Farrell, Swinton, Chen and Ip do what they can with their characters. But it’s hard to decide if anyone here is just another demon or angel in Doyle’s fevered brain, or real. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 29, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player is only modestly entertaining, its allure as false as the neon promise of the high-rolling city it’s set in. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlissa WilkinsonOct 29, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player contains a great story, but it’s bogged down by its trappings. Perhaps it just got a little too greedy. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiOct 28, 2025
The film’s ambivalent perspective on the greed and glitz of its protagonist’s world makes it difficult to invest much care in what happens to him. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerOct 28, 2025
Berger’s skill with middlebrow crowdpleasers succumbs to empty spectacle; he can still frame a bluntly powerful shot, and he knocks off a few nice Ocean’s Eleven images, but most are just blunt. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 9, 2025
Playfully, almost proudly shallow as it feeds off the feverish highs and lows of its addicted protagonist, this neo-noir offers plenty of buzzy delight — that is, until the story’s pretensions bring down the whole house of cards. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterAngie HanAug 31, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player has plenty of flash, as befits the story of a man whose everyday wear consists of jewel-tone velvet suits and silk ascots. But there’s not much substance to be found underneath the consciously cheap glamour. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 31, 2025
Ballad of a Small Player looks great, but lacks the fundamental human insight to make it a winner. Read full review
50
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodAug 31, 2025
Despite a “you can see it coming” final baccarat game in the third act, designed to crowd-please, it all somehow feels flat and generic. And, worse, decidedly not fresh. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 31, 2025
Despite promising a welcome throwback to the sort of down-and-out milieu that authors like Graham Greene once put on the map, this Lawrence Osborne adaptation winds up feeling like nothing so much as a quintessential Netflix movie: Easy to watch and impossible to care about. Read full review
40
EmpireBarry LevittOct 17, 2025
Though Farrell does great work and the film is a visual feast, Ballad Of A Small Player is an impenetrable story of redemption that’s both too obvious and too baffling. Read full review
40
IONCINEMA.comKevin JagernauthOct 16, 2025
It seems doubtful that Ballad of Small Player will serve as a third straight return to the Academy Awards for Berger. However, it does firmly establish the filmmaker as perhaps the finest purveyor of reliably high gloss pulp. But even as far as low stakes bets go, the film only offers a very modest payout. Read full review
40
ColliderRoss BonaimeSep 15, 2025
Edward Berger's latest is all style and no substance, despite giving Colin Farrell a weird role to sink his teeth into. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 11, 2025
Edward Berger’s “Ballad of a Small Player” is one of the most over-directed films I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been playing this specific game for a long time. Read full review
30
The Travers TakePeter TraversNov 1, 2025
Colin Farrell rolls the dice that maybe he can save this mess of an Edward Berger movie about a gambler’s addiction. Not this time Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreOct 30, 2025
This new movie suggests that Berger isn’t capable of rising above his source material or, in this case, even meeting it. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippOct 16, 2025
It’s an overload of overkill, yet as tedious and empty as the last day of a 72-hour trip to Vegas when the novelty has worn off and you just want to go home and sleep. Read full review
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