God's Pocket
IFC Films | Release Date: May 9, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
15
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
CineVueDaniel GreenAug 6, 2014
Slattery does at times struggle to bring anything new to the impoverished blue-collar, working-class trope. Relying heavily on several top-drawer character actors to lift his occasionally flat, even nihilistic story of love and death amidst urban decay, it's Hoffman and Jenkins that deserve the largest proportion of praise, while other characters quickly fall to the wayside of our interest. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 10, 2014
The material isn’t excited or shaped toward any insight — the Mike Leigh of "Naked" did this sort of thing brilliantly — and the arrival of a sluggish investigating journalist (Richard Jenkins), himself a bar fixture and underachiever, doesn’t offer a valid counterpoint. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianJeff BakerMay 15, 2014
Everything feels flat and listless, like an August afternoon in the city with no air conditioning. Hoffman shambles through his scenes, no spark in his eyes, getting it done without the energy and spirit that was his stock in trade. Read full review
58
IndieWireRobert Cameron Fowler May 5, 2014
The numerous belly laughs are undermined by jarring flashes of darkness that never organically sync with the plot. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoMay 15, 2014
Best, probably, to appreciate the movie for what Slattery, Hoffman, and the cast do most effectively: craft a pervasive atmosphere of tired people trudging through tired circumstances that only seem to grow more, well, tiring. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubMay 15, 2014
Many of the individual scenes are compelling, with a gritty tension that recalls "The Wire" and other good television. But too many of the attempts at "The Sopranos"-style comic drama fail. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 15, 2014
Although it contains some interesting characters, God's Pocket, like the neighborhood it depicts, is the kind of place you can't wait to escape, even if its inhabitants cannot. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMay 9, 2014
This is a flat, boring affair. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 8, 2014
The script, written by director John Slattery and Alex Metcalf, drifts too quickly into blue-collar cliches, leaving its interesting collection of characters only half-drawn at best. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyKeith StaskiewiczMay 7, 2014
In one of his final roles, Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as a man whose no-good stepson is killed on a construction job, while John Turturro, Richard Jenkins, and Christina Hendricks round out a formidable cast that isn’t given much to work with. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyApr 18, 2014
The film only intermittently displays the snap, precision and stylistic smarts a mixed-tone project like this requires; a half-good effort is not enough where buoyancy and a sly-to-mean spiritedness are required at all times. Read full review
42
The PlaylistCory EverettApr 18, 2014
The film is almost unrepentantly nasty towards its characters. Read full review
40
EmpireIan NathanAug 4, 2014
An uneven debut from John Slattery that nonetheless shows flashes of flair and a jet-black sense of humour. Read full review
40
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 8, 2014
These characters and their dilemmas could be the stuff of great, or at least good, drama, but Slattery's insistence on accentuating their sorrows with clinically depressed art direction wears thin rather quickly. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael NordineMay 6, 2014
The story... could have worked well as a pitch-black comedy, but first-time director John Slattery (Mad Men's Roger Sterling) takes the material so seriously that the mood never changes much after leaving the funeral home. Read full review
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