Cuckoo
Neon | Release Date: August 9, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
18
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireBen TravisAug 23, 2024
Despite great performances, stylish filmmaking, and a distinctive personality, Cuckoo emerges as slightly less than the sum of its parts. But it completes the hat-trick on Dan Stevens’ wildest year. Read full review
60
LooperReuben BaronAug 20, 2024
The cinematography is gorgeous, and the audacity of the twists can be darkly funny. But thinking about "Cuckoo" afterwards, I feel like I'm missing the key to making sense of and really connecting with it. Read full review
60
Little White LiesHannah StrongAug 20, 2024
While Hunter Schafer makes for a great Final Girl and Dan Stevens is on top form leaning into his knack for playing offputting weirdos, Cuckoo suffers from an ambiguity that hinders the story, unable to reconcile the comedic elements of the plot with the unsettling. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 12, 2024
Look at it through the lens of a dual star vehicle that isn’t afraid to sacrifice coherence in the name of cheap thrills, and this bird only slightly sings off-key. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 6, 2024
But as effective as the film might be in the moment, Singer’s increasingly sloppy plotting starts to get in the way of the bigger picture by the frantic last act, which is both strangely filled with exposition info dumps yet still lacking in much sense. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen A. RussellFeb 21, 2024
Sure to be a cult classic, it’s quite literally cuckoo – and often gloriously so. Read full review
60
Screen DailyWendy IdeFeb 16, 2024
While it is messy and frequently bewildering, Cuckoo does at least live up to its title, with a commitment to gleefully bonkers twists and a collection of entertainingly deranged supporting performances. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 16, 2024
At its best, the movie is kind of like The Stepford Wives meets Rosemary’s Baby, with side orders of Cronenberg, J-Horror and Lynch. Read full review
58
Original-CinChris KnightAug 7, 2024
I was ultimately less enthralled with the final film than I was with some of the performances in Cuckoo. Stevens and Schafer are amazing, and Bluthardt makes an excellent oddity, a convenient ally with his own mysterious agenda. But Cuckoo can’t quite bring all its disparate elements together into something cohesive and coherent. Read full review
55
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeAug 7, 2024
Cuckoo would have benefited from explaining itself much less or much, much more; as it is, it lives in the atmospheric middle of the road, confused by itself. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 9, 2024
Cuckoo gets more confusing the more it explains itself. The further writer-director Tilman Singer goes in articulating the strange goings-on that drive this stylish, unsettling thriller, the less compelling it becomes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 8, 2024
It’s a line that all horror movies must walk. The characters must be stupid enough to get themselves into trouble, but not so stupid that we don’t start thinking of them in Darwinian terms. Somehow, “Cuckoo” stays on the right side of that line, but barely. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePat BrownFeb 19, 2024
One may wish that the absurdity of the conceit had been matched by a bit more irreverence in the script and audacity in the imagery. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodAug 8, 2024
Honestly, you almost wish Singer had the foresight to ensure everyone involved took the proceedings completely seriously. That might have resulted in a camp classic that would be more memorable than this often aimless and thematically thin endeavor. Read full review
42
IndieWireAdam SolomonsFeb 16, 2024
The performances — especially Stevens’ — are silly and sincere, and the action competent enough for “Cuckoo” to have worked as pure pulp. But this film takes itself too seriously and pokes fun at its own silliness, a fatal combination. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithAug 8, 2024
Cuckoo brings up a lot of ideas but doesn’t organize them into anything like a satisfying resolution. As frenzy follows frenzy, it aspires merely to create a feeling of senseless chaos. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 8, 2024
There are so many underdeveloped themes that it’s not hard to see what Singer was trying to achieve, and how short he falls. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 16, 2024
Exuding more uncertainty than discipline, this wackadoo horror-thriller from German writer-director Tilman Singer can’t decide if wearing a smirk will see it through a sloppily developed plot, which keeps promising more than it delivers. Read full review
More From This Movie

62 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL