Digging for Fire
Orchard, The | Release Date: August 21, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 26, 2015
Digging for Fire fails its title’s own promise: It has the capacity for startling insight and artistry, but mostly it’s just a toe listlessly pushing dirt around. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 27, 2015
The movie’s a comedy. And while it has its charms, Swanberg is tilling soil here that has been churned since humanity began, and he doesn’t come up with very much that’s new. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 20, 2015
Equal parts film noir, relationship drama, dark comedy and mood piece, Digging for Fire is a movie made by someone who clearly loves the art of movies. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 20, 2015
The actors save it, periodically, from itself, simply by setting a natural tone and finding some truth in an extended sketch. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 19, 2015
What starts off as a promising indie about a couple (Jake Johnson and Rosemarie DeWitt) trying to balance their own needs versus their partner’s quickly goes south in director Joe Swanberg’s latest meditation on aging-hipster malaise. Read full review
100
IndieWireAn BanhFeb 1, 2015
The movie delivers a bewitching dissection of happiness and unhappiness in love. Digging for Fire is a promising peek into the future of Swanberg, and one that only signals more to come. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierAug 20, 2015
The cool cast includes casual drop-ins from Sam Rockwell, Melanie Lynskey and Sam Elliott. The actors give off the feeling that we’ve wandered into the middle of a conversation among friends. This being a Swanberg movie, that’s kind of what is happening, complete with tiny epiphanies and people you want to hear keep talking. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartAug 19, 2015
Per Swanberg’s signature style, the dialogue is largely improvised, the performances loose and funny. This may be his most star-studded cast yet, but the work is as intimate (“mumblecore” is so passé) as ever. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 27, 2015
Digging for Fire, like last year's "Happy Christmas" (also with Kendrick) and 2013's "Drinking Buddies" (with Johnson and Kendrick), is not a film for fans of taut, crafted dialogue and definitive endings. Conversations drift and weave, as do the people having them. Narcissistic melancholy dukes it out with beer-and-pot-stoked merriment. There is longing. There is foolhardiness. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanAug 27, 2015
Sometimes those kinds of movies work (just ask the Duplass brothers) and sometimes they seem like the cast and crew had more fun making them than you do watching them. This one sits somewhere in the middle. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 21, 2015
Digging for Fire wants to talk about serious topics and it wants to do so in a humorous light-hearted way. It succeeds. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 19, 2015
The movie steps lively with buoyant humor and palpable sexual tension, but keep an eye out for the dark places. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 26, 2015
One wishes Lee’s mother (Judith Light) and stepfather (Sam Elliott) were in the film more; their conversations with Lee about marriage and love rung true. The rest is just empty dialogue. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 18, 2015
This is a moody comedy about unconscious marital discord, but it’s also about that ineffable discontent that envelops most of us. Digging For Fire is funny because it rings true — and because it stings a little. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 17, 2015
Reminiscent of Woody Allen's great, under-sung Manhattan Murder Mystery, it utilizes a pulp conceit as a shorthand for the regrets that bubble up in a marriage. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAug 19, 2015
With so much talent involved, there are inevitably some amusing moments, which keep tedium at least partly at bay. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeFeb 1, 2015
More lightweight than its ample talk of weighty subjects suggests, the film is nevertheless enjoyable. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 20, 2015
The film has an appealing honesty and an enjoyably low-key comic style. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezFeb 1, 2015
Digging For Fire is low-lit and pitched in a minor key, a quiet meditation on compromise, individuality, the loss of identity within a marriage, and the aftermath of disorientation that comes with having children and losing touch with your former life. Read full review
90
VarietyBen KenigsbergFeb 1, 2015
A lovely slice of everything and nothing. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAbbey BenderAug 18, 2015
Digging for Fire affably drifts by, bolstered by some strong set pieces. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 27, 2015
Digging for Fire is a pleasant escape — an attractively shot, gracefully edited and, finally, emotionally satisfying mystery about the nature of marriage itself. Read full review
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