False Positive
Hulu | Release Date (Streaming): June 25, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
11
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 24, 2021
With Ilana Glazer leading an outstanding cast, False Positive is not a movie you can easily shake off in a day or two. Or three. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJun 23, 2021
While False Positive has lapses in logic and could have a quicker pace in the second half, it fully embraces a bizarre sense of the macabre that is irresistible. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 18, 2021
Director Lee, who co-wrote the screenplay with Glazer and was a frequent Broad City collaborator, doesn’t quite sustain that bold stylistic stamp, even if the perturbing intimacy and insidious angles of the visuals go a long way toward masking the uneven tone. Read full review
70
Screen DailyNikki BaughanJun 18, 2021
A sharp screenplay and strong performances give this life as a watchable thriller, rather than just a mere pastiche. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJun 18, 2021
Glazer and Lee both work primarily in comedy, but the commentary here is drier and more serious, producing knowing nods instead of outright laughter. Read full review
67
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJun 18, 2021
The climax is entertaining and crazy but not necessarily as satisfying as it hopes to be. Still, for all its flaws and inability to deliver in the end, False Positive is a captivating take on the misrepresentation of the pregnancy “glow.” Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyJun 25, 2021
A deftly made suspense film, but one that falls somewhat short of its aspirations, both as a satire and as a psychological thriller with a critical societal eye. Read full review
61
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganJun 24, 2021
Unfortunately, even False Positive’s shortcomings are uncharacteristically boring, generic and empty. Read full review
60
Film ThreatAlan NgJul 7, 2021
Though I may not have connected with the final product as intended, if the idea of a psychological thriller about pregnancy appeals to you, then the movie might be your cup of tea. Read full review
60
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiJun 26, 2021
There’s something here, beneath the glassy-eyed performances and the Instagram aesthetics, about class and privilege and the evils of men — and you could even make a case for False Positive being yet another effective display of gaslighting as horror — but any actual messages are too vague to parse. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 25, 2021
It’s a moderately effective horror movie with a much better, creepier and more nuanced one nestled invisibly alongside, the unborn twin ghost of a movie that might have been. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 24, 2021
Lee (who directed episodes of “Broad City”) and Glazer swerve from comedy to horror, using the genre as a vehicle for social commentary about modern motherhood, misogyny and manipulation. False Positive is Glazer’s “Get Out,” which is a phrase you want to scream at her character, Lucy, over and over again. Read full review
60
TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanJun 18, 2021
There are ominously edited portents and a score that starts at fever pitch and rarely pulls back. But the frayed strands of the horror plot feel hastily woven together, and underwhelming when all is revealed. Read full review
50
Screen RantDebopriyaa DuttaJul 10, 2021
Despite a compelling first half, False Positive fails to imbue the pregnancy horror trope with depth or ingenuity, accelerating to a banal finish. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Helen ShawJun 26, 2021
False Positive fails to cohere. Glazer and Lee’s script scatters its thematic attention in the last third, which ruptures the movie’s attempt to build dread, and director Lee creates a thin, under-realized world. Read full review
50
The Film StageChristopher SchobertJun 22, 2021
Through the performances from Glaser and Brosnan, as well as its unabashed willingness to look extremely silly, False Positive may be worth one’s time. This is Friday-night thriller cinema from the Single White Female or Hand That Rocks the Cradle book, and sometimes that’s just what one is seeking. For anything more than that, look elsewhere. Like, to Rosemary’s Baby. Again. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiJun 20, 2021
False Positive threads classic horror-film tropes with a woozy, partially comic sensibility but doesn’t fully commit to this approach. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJun 25, 2021
As the film crashes to a conclusion, early promise fading away, the film has the feeling of a valiant, but misguided, post-Get Out attempt to infuse social commentary within the framework of well-worn genre territory, aiming high but landing low. Read full review
40
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaJun 24, 2021
Despite its vaguely unsettling clinical ambience, very little about the film as it makes its way to an ultimately flat and predictable final twist, manages to feel tense or thrilling. Or even funny for that matter. Read full review
33
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 18, 2021
Trapped in some bizarre movie genre hinterland, wholly resistant to veering too far in any direction, this aimless film isn’t dark enough to be scary, funny enough to be a comedy, or smart enough to say anything about the many topics it seems to want to tackle. Read full review
30
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsJun 28, 2021
It’s the product of a satirical ambition that lacks the wit to land any heady blows; the horror mastery to be even glancingly scary; the intellect to make those thrills invigoratingly existential; and the sense of humor to make it entertaining. What it is, is limp, dull, half-cocked — with a few good performances from good enough actors that hints at how a smarter movie might have worked. Read full review
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