Boston Strangler
Warner Bros. | Release Date (Streaming): March 17, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Original-CinThom ErnstMar 16, 2023
Ruskin gives a fresh bend to the story of the Boston Strangler, and indeed to the true-crime genre. There are plenty of true crime films to entertain, but few that reach alongside the likes of Richard Brooks’s In Cold Blood (1967), in Fincher’s Zodiac (2007), and in his abandoned television project, Mindhunter. Ruskin’s Boston Strangler belongs on this list. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 16, 2023
Writer-director Ruskin and editor Anne McCabe do a superb job of keeping the story moving, even though much of Loretta’s work involves grinding it out by knocking on doors, researching news clippings, interviewing survivors and relatives, making calls from pay phones, etc., etc. Read full review
81
TheWrapLena WilsonMar 16, 2023
“Boston Strangler” may muddle its facts, but its message never wavers. In a genre dominated by perfunctory intrigue, how exhilarating to see a film with morals this clear, consistent, and touching. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 17, 2023
Knightley, in a performance as crisp as the corners of an envelope, makes McLaughlin’s perseverance—and the pressures she faced as she also tried to be a good wife and mother—deeply believable. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMar 16, 2023
In their matter-of-fact toughness and mostly unshakable composure, Knightley and Coon are riveting as their characters navigate boys’ club politics and newsroom dynamics — and Cooper provides a superb foil with his thoroughly lived-in embodiment of a newsman undergoing a reluctant awakening. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMartin CarrMar 16, 2023
Boston Strangler has more to say than some might think by promoting a forthright, focused, and professionally progressive approach in those central performances. Roles which are only made to look easy by Knightley and Coon, purely because they embody them so effortlessly. Read full review
75
ABC NewsPeter TraversMar 17, 2023
It’s frustrating that this immense, immersive true-crime story has been squeezed into a two-hour movie instead of a miniseries about the two women reporters—superbly played by Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon—who broke a notorious case the police could not. Read full review
75
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferMar 16, 2023
Boston Strangler steps right up to the line of the hokiest girlboss tropes and narrowly avoids crossing into a cringeworthy injection of contemporary feminism into a historical narrative. Rather than blaring its priorities throughout, Ruskin’s film gradually reveals the biases suppressing the idea that women’s stories matter. It’s just enough of a twist on an otherwise imitative, iterative story to hold interest. Read full review
70
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMar 16, 2023
What a welcome rarity Boston Strangler is, even in its limits: a sturdy, thoughtfully constructed movie featuring a compelling story and host of great actors. Read full review
70
CNNBrian LowryMar 16, 2023
Given the enduring fascination with such material, underscored by all the recent productions about Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, this is one of those stories that seems ripe for a redo. Because even with the uncertainty the one thing “Boston Strangler” makes clear – 55 years after the previous movie – is that when it comes to true crime, some things never go out of style. Read full review
70
VarietyCourtney HowardMar 16, 2023
A distant cousin to “Zodiac,” with splashes of “Seven” mixed into its homages, this thriller falls short of its influences yet carves out a small space of its own. It makes a searing indictment of the sloppy, sexism-laced police work that might’ve resolved the case, and pays tribute to the two women who broke the investigation wide open. Read full review
70
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiMar 16, 2023
The Boston Strangler case may not have come to the fairest conclusion, but the efforts of these brave women will hopefully continue to light a fire under those who will catch their own Boston Strangler. If that was Ruskin’s goal with this film, then he was successful. Read full review
68
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpMar 16, 2023
Ruskin’s examination of the social and political elements that enabled the Strangler, and which held people like McLaughlin in contempt for attempting to serve the public good, is bold. In his next film, he should apply that same boldness toward an aesthetic purpose, too. Read full review
67
IndieWireSamantha BergesonMar 16, 2023
The stifled quietness of “Strangler” leaves us wanting more, for better or for worse. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 21, 2023
Well-cast, properly gloomy, with a serious bone to pick about Beantown’s “good ol’boys at the bar” sexism and chummy mediocrity, it’s a step-up for writer-director Matt Ruskin, whose “Crown Heights” had similar “attack the system” ambitions but fell short of the mark. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comNick AllenMar 17, 2023
Ruskin succeeds in paying tribute to Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole's hard work, but it's less successful in filling in the larger story. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineRoss McIndoeMar 16, 2023
While the film’s determination to spotlight the women who brought down the Boston Strangler over the killer himself is admirable, it leaves a hole in the middle of the film that nothing else really manages to fill. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMar 23, 2023
The more powerful parts of this picture have to do with their realization that people may be too eager to hear tidy stories with clear villains and conclusions — even if they’re not entirely true. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMar 23, 2023
The more powerful parts of this picture have to do with their realization that people may be too eager to hear tidy stories with clear villains and conclusions — even if they’re not entirely true. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaMar 16, 2023
It's sturdy, dependable stuff, and it might do the trick for viewers not expecting a more traditional serial killer thriller. But if you're looking for something beyond a surface-level telling of a true story, you might just want to rewatch "Zodiac" again instead. Read full review
58
The Film StageChristian GallichioMar 16, 2023
It’s never anything less than an insightful watch, which doesn’t exactly make it memorable. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 16, 2023
An oddly inert and even old-fashioned yarn, one that sleepwalks for long stretches, defusing much of the drama of what is an undeniably fascinating true-crime story. Read full review
50
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMar 16, 2023
It has one thing to say, and it says it over and over again with a dismal lack of nuance. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonMar 16, 2023
When Boston Strangler focuses on the two journalists who wrote about this case, it is quite involving. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubBrent SimonMar 16, 2023
The movie attempts to serve multiple narrative masters, but ends up coming across as vague and indistinct. Read full review
50
ColliderEmma KielyMar 16, 2023
It’s clear that Boston Strangler so desperately wanted to copy the recipe for Zodiac and bought all the same ingredients. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 20, 2023
It may hint that the bad guy at the center of if all wasn’t the primary villain. But the movie does prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it is its own worst enemy. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 16, 2023
This film pretends to be cleaning house chez Mr Strangler, when it’s just pushing dust around. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 16, 2023
A director like Jonathan Demme or David Fincher would have gone for the jugular on this kind of material, but writer-director Matt Ruskin seems a little squeamish and keeps everything on the right side of contemporary taste. The chill of fear is missing. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 16, 2023
Washed in an unappetizing sludge of grayish green, the movie aims for serious and settles on bilious. The real McLaughlin was a fascinating, pioneering newshound; you’re unlikely to find her here. Read full review
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