Chapter 27
Vitagraph Films | Release Date: March 28, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
7
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Chapter 27 is far from flawless, but Leto disappears inside this angry, mouth-breathing psycho geek with a conviction that had me hanging on his every delusion. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
By the end of this modest, strange venture, Leto made me believe it was worth being forced to hang out on the sidewalk with this man, if only to get a creeping sense of what that might’ve been like. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
High praise to the cast and crew. Jared Leto is mesmeric as the bloated, deranged Chapman. It's a brilliantly measured performance, evincing the tale of a madman through his own awful rhyme and reason. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
It's a transformative role, but how widely seen it is depends on how strong a stomach one has for wall-to-wall paranoid ravings. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film's 85 minutes drag by painfully slowly, because there's no respite from Chapman's tedious, self-pitying reveries. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
If Schaefer's intent was to provide some sort of insight into Chapman's character, some hint of explanation for this senseless tragedy, he fails, probably because there's none to be found beyond one lonely guy's addled brain chemistry. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleJoel Selvin
An uncomfortable ride. Read full review
40
Film ThreatJeremy Mathews
From what I can tell, the film is generally accurate regarding the events of Dec. 8. But I got as much out of it as I did by looking up Chapman on Wikipedia. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
There's virtually no context provided here, about Lennon or the Beatles or New York or Chapman himself. To put it another way, the film's entire context IS Chapman. Read full review
40
The New York TimesMatt Zoller Seitz
Except for Judah Friedlander’s earthy, funny work as a paparazzo, most of the performances are vague and dull, including Lindsay Lohan’s supporting turn as a fictional Beatles fan who befriends Mr. Chapman. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
The presence of Lohan – a celebrity whose every move is tracked by the media like an endangered species of hawk – only serves to highlight the point that the truly fascinating story behind the murder of Lennon wasn't Chapman's madness (and certainly not his weight) but the depths of our celebrity mania and the influence we’re willing to concede to personalities larger than our own. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Don't hammer this film for trying to get inside the head of Mark David Chapman before he shot John Lennon outside the rock legend's New York apartment on December 8th, 1980. Hammer it instead for failing to do so with any depth or insight. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Judah Friedlander and Lindsay Lohan are striking, respectively, as a Lennon paparazzo and a fan creeped out by Chapman. Read full review
30
VarietyDennis Harvey
Jared Leto gained some 70 pounds. Seemingly following his lead, the pic itself is heavy, lethargic, and exasperating. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This drama, about the three days leading up to the murder, never overcomes its inherent ghoulishness, largely because Chapman, like so many mentally ill people, is a huge bore. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
This boring, torpid movie notices its own flaws and unwisely underlines them. Read full review
20
Village VoiceEd Gonzalez
A retarded sense of meta is achieved whenever Leto's Chapman goes on about the phony theatrics of film actors, but it's Lindsay Lohan, as über–Lennon fan Jude, who breaks your heart, looking convincingly horrified that she has three undeserved Razzies while Leto has none. Read full review
0
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Visually ugly, morally non-existent and a complete black hole in the departments of insight and wit, Chapter 27 is quite possibly the most godawful, irredeemable film to yet emerge in the 21st century. Read full review
0
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Perhaps the harshest criticism that can be directed at Chapter 27 is that it's awful even for a late-period Lindsay Lohan movie. It might even be bad enough to inspire "Catcher" author J.D. Salinger to break his decades of public silence to speak out against this high-camp fiasco. Read full review
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