Coherence
Oscilloscope Pictures | Release Date: June 20, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The DissolveMike D'AngeloJun 17, 2014
Shot over five nights in a single location, and almost entirely improvised, Coherence is no-budget filmmaking at its most delectably inventive. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleWilliam GossJul 9, 2014
Coherence presents a far-fetched premise at the outset, only to slyly smuggle in some remarkably relatable matters of the heart along the way. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJul 10, 2014
If Rod Serling had hired Robert Altman to direct a "Twilight Zone" episode, it might have turned out something like this. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 18, 2014
The result is an uncommonly clever genre movie, reliant not on special effects — of which there are basically none — but on heavy doses of paranoia. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisJun 11, 2014
The wordy end product may be short on demons and murderous droids, yet Coherence is a satisfying and chilling addition to the ever-growing pal-ocalypse subgenre. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamFeb 12, 2015
A low-budget, highconcept WTF thriller that might have been conceived by Rod Serling in the heyday of his Twilight Zone series. Spread the word. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanFeb 9, 2015
An ambitious physics and time-bending, relationship drama with solid performances from the two main characters. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 20, 2014
Byrkit’s film is very much its own thing. It’s an urbane dinner-party movie that turns into something magnificent, terrible, and strange – and yet it never quite stops being an urbane dinner-party movie, never lets up its tone of ironic refinement. Coherence is a gentle film, but you walk away from it with your brain on fire. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonJun 19, 2014
An ingenious micro-budget science-fiction nerve-jangler which takes place entirely at a suburban dinner party, Coherence is a testament to the power of smart ideas and strong ensemble acting over expensive visual pyrotechnics. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJun 18, 2014
Writer/director James Ward Byrkit, in his feature debut, achieves effective chills with only eight actors and a living room, intermixing quantum physics (shout-outs range from Schrödinger’s cat to “Sliding Doors”) with the very mundane human tendency toward bad judgment calls in a crisis. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineNick PriggeJun 15, 2014
The film's impression of personas is less traditionally sinister than representative of its inquiry into identity and what happens when social barriers begin to fall away. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 19, 2014
After the fundamental problem of Coherence has become clear, or clear-ish – there’s another dinner party, at that other house, that looks an awful lot like this one – the movie becomes slightly too much like an unfolding mathematical puzzle, although an ingenious one that reaches a chilling conclusion. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 19, 2014
The performances... are solid, and the conceit is alluringly mind-bending without ever seeming off-puttingly brainy. Read full review
60
The GuardianLeslie FelperinOct 25, 2015
Byrkit’s parable about choices and how they make us who we are has an eerie potency. Read full review
60
CineVuePatrick GambleFeb 18, 2015
Coherence is a debut of tremendous ambition and potential, yet sadly, despite some genuine moments of tension, the film ironically makes too many wrong turns and its convoluted themes fail to coalesce on a human level, tempering the initial intrigue and culminating in a plaintive sense of admiration, rather than enraptured adulation. Read full review
60
The TelegraphMike McCahillFeb 18, 2015
Its success may depend on how alert you’re feeling, but for once you can’t complain that a movie hasn’t given your synapses a thorough workout. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 19, 2014
Byrkit and his actors successfully build a sense of tension, and then dread, from what appears to be an extremely limited budget. Indeed, the movie was shot primarily in his own living room. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 17, 2014
For a sci-fi indie of vast ambition but limited means, Coherence does a sterling job with coherence. Read full review
58
The PlaylistGabe ToroJun 18, 2014
It feels like this is a short film idea stretched to feature length, and the padding doesn't work. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 19, 2014
At some point, though, Mr. Byrkit turns one too many corners (characters, meanwhile, begin bustling in and out of rooms like Marx Brothers extras), and what began as a nifty puzzle feels more like a trap. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 16, 2014
The one thing Coherence needs most is that word that gives it its title. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangJun 25, 2014
Coherence devolves into a noisy, cluttered portrait of dysfunction, all clenched fists and shouted expletives. The twists may be novel, but the talk, and the upshot, are all too dispiritingly familiar. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonJun 17, 2014
The Rod Serling tension Byrkit is angling for never quite arrives, nor does any real Borgesian frisson. But thanks to its social setting, it does offer a vivid and perhaps intentional satirical portrait of L.A. culture. Read full review
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