Greta
Focus Features | Release Date: March 1, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
18
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
TheWrapSteve PondNov 19, 2018
While it sometimes feels as if it’s just not enough fun, once you get to the twin switcheroos and then the insane ending, you have little choice but to buy into horror-audience protocol and embrace it for the bloody hoot it is. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 27, 2019
Despite the buildup of these horror expectations, there is no predicting how deliciously enjoyable it is to witness the macabre dance performed by Moretz and Huppert, two of the best actresses working in today’s movies. They play their game of cat and mouse with claws out; by the end of the berserko film, their characters are practically swinging from the rafters. Everyone appears to be having a grand time in Greta, and it would be crass for us as viewers to not respond similarly. Read full review
75
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerMar 1, 2019
Those who follow it down its strange little alley will be rewarded with beautiful music, Isabelle Huppert, and a table-flip for the ages. See it with your mom. It’ll be weird. That’s what Greta would want. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrFeb 27, 2019
Huppert seems to be enjoying herself fully leaning into Greta’s insanity, so perhaps this one can get a pass. She helps elevate the film from its self-consciously B-movie roots to be something that’s actually pretty good. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedFeb 27, 2019
It’s a nail-biter that sends ice down the spine and proves that in the hands of a master director, any genre is capable of achieving new heights of imagination. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJake ColeSep 17, 2018
Neil Jordan’s deft control of pace and tone elevates Greta past mere gimmickry, resulting in a comic thriller whose goofy humor only compounds its mastery of suspense. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 10, 2018
Greta is one of those thrillers where you see almost every twist coming, but the actors are so into it that you still get sucked in. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 10, 2018
It opens as a stilted, awkward drama, complete with the always-delightful Maika Monroe giving literal voice to what appears to be the film’s obvious theme (mommy issues, basically) — and then it takes a surprising flip. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsMar 1, 2019
As it is, Greta is more of a Terminator movie, with everyone doing their best to get out of Huppert’s way for 98 enjoyable minutes—though that’s still worth a recommendation in my book. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 27, 2019
Falls squarely in B movie territory but, by virtue of its two lead performers, winds up being far more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Read full review
70
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 26, 2019
Jordan, working from a script he conjured up with Ray Wright, is in it for suspense tinged with laughs. But with these two dynamo actresses front and center, this nail-biter keeps you riveted. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 10, 2018
Greta is best read as tongue-in-cheek femme fun. And proof, certainly, that despite her considerable success, Huppert has not at all fallen into the trap of taking herself to seriously. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichSep 10, 2018
The filmmaker's expressively cockeyed impulses soon take over (he's ably assisted by the terrific cinematographer Seamus McGarvey), and the resulting craziness is quite delightful to behold in the moment and to reflect on after. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 1, 2019
A loony psychodrama so steeped in winking, twinkly-toed camp that it almost (almost!) escapes the leaden tropes of the genre. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeFeb 27, 2019
This is a slight film, unlikely to be remembered in the long-term by anyone but completists who discover it during deep dives into its leads’ respective filmographies. But, oh, what a giddy ride awaits them. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 4, 2019
For the movie’s first half, director Neil Jordan does a reasonably good job of it. Then, unfortunately, he falls victim to the most dreaded of horror movie clichés: supposedly smart characters doing irredeemably dumb things. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzMar 1, 2019
From the looks of it, Huppert had a grand time playing the title character in Greta, a film that could have been released in the era of MTV veejays and VCRs. Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonFeb 28, 2019
Neil Jordan gives us a fancier version of the Lifetime staple in Greta. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 20, 2019
And Monroe, Moretz’s “Fifth Wave” co-star (best-known for “It Follows”), has just enough edge to make Erica a New Yorker newcomers to the city might want to listen to when she barks out a warning, even if it’s hard to take somebody this into yoga — and yoga pants — that seriously. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansApr 22, 2019
Mostly, though, as a B-movie, Greta works; the moments in which it leans into its own silliness are its best. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 18, 2019
This film isn’t a nadir at all – it’s divertingly loony – but Jordan has rarely had less urgent things to say to us. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 18, 2019
In all her signature deadpan intimidation, Huppert somehow gives the impression of being an exceptionally intelligent and self-possessed person who has never before acted in a film. Read full review
60
EmpireKambole CampbellApr 16, 2019
Despite a familiar, somewhat tedious set-up, Greta truly comes into its own in the final act, a ’90s thriller throwback elevated by Isabelle Huppert tearing up the scenery and dancing all over it. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 4, 2019
If you lack a taste for such hokum, Greta is still worth seeing, for the sake of Isabelle Huppert: an A-grade performer, by any standard, as shown in the rigors of “The Piano Teacher” (2001) and the vengeful perversity of “Elle” (2016). Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicGarrett MitchellFeb 28, 2019
With moments that harken to De Palma's "Carrie" (the claustrophobic toy box mimics Carrie's closet) and even "The Hunger," Greta is a mishmash of tropes masterfully compiled into a chilly and taut flick Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 27, 2019
It's undeniably a B-movie in disguise, leaning heavily on formula and well-established movie tropes to tell a familiar story. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 26, 2019
The point, and the fun, is the wild mischief of Huppert’s performance, which grows lighter and more joyful as Greta’s behavior slides from menacing to murderous. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 26, 2019
Directed by the gifted but erratic Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan, the movie is thin, rote and silly but, Huppert being Huppert, it’s good for a diabolical chuckle or two. Read full review
59
Paste MagazineTim GriersonFeb 28, 2019
There’s a natural tendency to want to like Greta so that you don’t feel like a killjoy or a snob. But as much as I appreciated Jordan and his actors’ balance of high and low, I rarely treasured its trashiness. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekFeb 28, 2019
Huppert is an actress of great depth, so playing a monster in the shallow end of the pool is no great accomplishment. But she is great at staring with piercing intent. And she knows how to make a scene. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 28, 2019
Despite the first-rate production values and the game performances from the cast, “Greta” can’t escape from the formulaic screenplay that dogs it at every turn. It’s almost as if it’s being stalked by mediocrity itself. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonFeb 28, 2019
Huppert and Jordan are certainly capable of turning up the volume, but for whatever reason they pull back in Greta, getting stuck somewhere between shlockly art and arty schlock. That’s not a good place to be, even if it is a Greta one. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 28, 2019
The script by Jordan and Ray Wright, from Wright’s story, wastes little time in getting to what “Fatal Attraction” enthusiasts might call the bunny-boiling bits. But the movie frustrates. And it squanders Huppert, which really is a waste. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 27, 2019
Greta is not just silly but obvious, and without any hint of a larger purpose, beyond hitting the various plot points of the human monster genre. Twenty minutes before the finish, it degenerates into a joke, and not a good one, but just fair enough to see through to the end. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 27, 2019
Greta is a disappointment from Jordan, who’s made far better movies (“The Crying Game,” “The End of the Affair” and, more recently, the elegant vampire film “Byzantium”), but Huppert seizes hold of the film and chills it, in a way that’s both shiver-inducing and bracing. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 21, 2019
The film is intense and features a performance by Chloë Grace Moretz that’s more committed than this swill deserves. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 10, 2018
It’s everything and nothing, a familiar regurgitation of a formula with precious little to add. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 27, 2019
Isn’t it a bit early for Isabelle Huppert to be entering the late Bette Davis era of her career? Why else on God’s green earth would she be appearing in Greta, a botched attempt to build a camp horror movie around a grand diva of the screen? Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 10, 2018
It's a jumbled mess, to put it mildly. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 1, 2019
Moretz, meanwhile, acts like Little Red Riding Hood talking to her conspicuously hairy grandma — impossibly naive, and therefore dull and unbelievable. She’s a solid actress, but she shines best in indies or in parts with real edge. Greta is a camp-fest. Read full review
25
Washington PostAnn HornadayFeb 26, 2019
Greta might pretend to turn the tables by presenting the sexualized predation of a young woman at the hands of a female malefactor instead of a male one. But the fetishistic leer is just as troubling and offensive. Disturbance eventually gives way to derangement in a story that grows exponentially more irritating the more preposterous it gets. As Morton might say: When it rains, it pours. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 28, 2019
Greta is petit Guignol trying to pass for Grand, a horror flick made by people who forgot to have fun. One of them, the director, Neil Jordan, made a memorable film called “The Crying Game” almost three decades ago. This is the groaning game, an inept tale of danger, entrapment and dismemberment. Read full review
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