Easy Money
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: July 11, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 12, 2012
Easy Money may well be the crime film of the year, or the decade. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 11, 2012
Easy Money is not merely an early-career curiosity. It's one of the best underworld films I've seen in years, and Kinnaman gives a fantastic performance in it. Read full review
90
SlateDana StevensJul 13, 2012
Easy Money's big heist scene is the only action set piece so far this year that was so suspenseful I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJul 12, 2012
This jazzy crime melodrama is engrossing and exhilarating because of Espinosa's impressive command of a wide range of filmmaking skills. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 17, 2012
One of the most involving of the many first-rate thrillers that have come recently from Scandinavia. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 26, 2012
An English-language remake is in the works, but why wait for the Hollywood knockoff? Easy Money is the real thing: a great gangster pic. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJul 25, 2012
Swims forward with tenacious shark-like energy and therefore is sleek, efficient and utterly engaging. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 13, 2012
Character is action, Scott Fitzgerald once wrote. It certainly is here. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJul 11, 2012
While overlong and occasionally too reliant on a formulaic set of motives to drive the action forward, Easy Money retains its suave composure right through the engrossing finale. Read full review
80
TimeRichard CorlissJul 12, 2012
Well acted and acutely observed, the film doesn't try to be a conventionally satisfying coke-land action film. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 10, 2012
In a director's note Mr. Espinosa describes his fascination with "the idea of thief's honor" and with portraying criminals who, from their point of view, "are trying to do good through their own ethics." And this soul-searching quest lends Easy Money a depth rarely found in gangster films. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyAug 23, 2012
What really distinguishes it from any number of drug-escapade stories is the unusual and welcome sense of Dostoyevskian moral gravity of the narrative. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryAug 9, 2012
The story and cinematography are gritty, but the portraits of these characters are impressively human. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 2, 2012
In some ways Easy Money recalls Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic." They have drug dealing in common, of course, but also a sense of constant swirl and density of onscreen population. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 12, 2012
So sobering an example of why crime doesn't pay that it could be shown to petty drug thugs to scare them straight. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 12, 2012
JW is played brilliantly by Joel Kinnaman, who is familiar to American audiences of "The Killing" on AMC. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 12, 2012
A class-conscious Scandinavian crime film whose impact is dulled by some extraneous subplots, Daniél Espinosa's Easy Money nevertheless makes a solid vehicle for Joel Kinnaman. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJul 10, 2012
A hit in its native Sweden as "Snabba Cash," the English title is a piece of cheap irony; this is a crime thriller where no one gets away clean, and every action has its irrevocable reaction. Read full review
70
VarietyAlissa SimonJul 10, 2012
Maria Karlsson's multilayered screenplay makes the film much more than just a crime thriller, beautifully incorporating themes of parents and children, misplaced values, and greed and corruption. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 24, 2012
Although this Swedish vehicle is thoughtfully engineered and has some vivid streaks of color, it could use a jump start to escape the vanilla ice. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithJul 13, 2012
Gritty visuals and a strong central performance elevate the routine crime story at the heart of Sweden's Easy Money, a sort of mash-up of "Goodfellas" and "The Great Gatsby." Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJul 10, 2012
The humanization of these antiheroic outlaws doesn't feel forced, but it does feel engineered, and there's never a viewer investment to match the story's wide expanse. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 18, 2013
A story stretched thinly between two many characters, without the dynamism or momentum to keep itself charging onwards. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanMay 20, 2013
There's plenty here to show why director Daniel Espinosa caught Hollywood's eye, even if this pre-Safe House crime drama holds few surprises. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearJul 10, 2012
It's obvious from Easy Money why Espinosa would be going places. So long as he takes Kinnaman with him, the gentleman can have our hard-earned cash. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 9, 2012
Easy Money takes its time telling us how all the fortunes of all three men intersect, and the movie's failing - or at least its significant imperfection - is that when the stories and lifelines do converge, the results just aren't satisfying. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovJul 10, 2012
Betrayals will occur and loyalties will be tested, but it's the audience that ends up ripped off. Read full review
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