Gangster Squad
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: January 11, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
23
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
Washington PostAnn HornadayJan 10, 2013
Slick, sick, self-consciously stylish and defiantly shallow, Gangster Squad is one of those movies you can't talk about without invoking other (often better) movies. A lot of movies. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJan 10, 2013
It begins as energetic, clichéd nonsense and ends as irritating, clichéd nonsense. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinJan 9, 2013
Gangster Squad aims for the pop-operatic intensity of "The Untouchables," but ends up feeling like a savage, simple-minded comic strip. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 19, 2013
The over-all result is a misstep for Fleischer. [21 Jan. 2013, p. 78]
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 10, 2013
Mr. Beall, a former LAPD cop, has written a script so devoid of feeling that the cartoons blur into thin line drawings, while what's been done with the marvelous Ms. Stone - i.e. next to nothing - is downright criminal. Read full review
30
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJan 8, 2013
The proximity of horrible headlines scarcely matters - released on any day of any calendar year, Gangster Squad would be a crime against cinematic sensibility. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 10, 2013
This movie made my ears hurt. Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and James Ellroy could have turned this pulp into insinuating jazz. What's here is a cartoonish bore. Read full review
25
The PlaylistCharlie SchmidlinJan 8, 2013
In lieu of any sharp insight into the period and its notorious figures, the film's brash, ultraviolent encounters instead build a showy exterior with nothing of import left standing. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.Jan 8, 2013
Ruben Fleischer's film is a perfect example of Hollywood hypocrisy, something to be ignored diligently. Read full review
10
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 10, 2013
His (Fleischer) first feature, "Zombieland," was a half-witty genre parody. This one might be described as genre zombie-ism: the hysterical, brainless animation of dead clichés reduced to purposeless, compulsive killing. Too self-serious to succeed as pastiche, it has no reason for being beyond the parasitic urge to feed on the memories of other, better movies. Read full review
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