Inside
Focus Features | Release Date: March 17, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
16
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 20, 2023
Here is an art-house flick, cunningly coated in the gleam of a high-tech thriller. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonMar 16, 2023
It’s disruptive, and then cathartic, to watch Dafoe’s primal performance dominate this museum/mausoleum and force us to side with humanity. He’s perfectly cast in a part that calls for quietly whirring intelligence. Read full review
60
Screen RantRachel LaBonteMar 14, 2023
This movie won't be for everyone, but Dafoe enthusiasts will have to check out his go-for-broke depiction of a man at his wits' end. It keeps the movie exciting even when the pacing falters. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 13, 2023
Without an actor like Dafoe at its center (and margins and everywhere else), it would be unwatchable torture. With him, it’s more like watchable torture, easier to admire than enjoy. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 21, 2023
It is a strange, enclosed experience: Dafoe’s mastery of the screen keeps it meaningful. Read full review
59
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMar 7, 2023
Dafoe is captivating as always, but not even his slinking, slippery presence can save the film from turning into a rather torturous endurance test. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 21, 2023
It’s a natty-enough twist on the survivor story — what if you were stuck inside, not outside? — and one bolstered by the inherent watchability of star Willem Dafoe, one of the few performers absolutely up to the task of this particular feature. Read full review
55
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMar 17, 2023
As a showcase for the inimitable Dafoe it has its minor freaky-deaky pleasures. Ultimately, though, it goes nowhere—literally and figuratively. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaMar 23, 2023
Despite a stellar performance from Willem Dafoe as a contemplative art thief, Inside lacks the smarts and visual panache to make good use of its single location. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMar 17, 2023
The film has its moments, and Dafoe certainly gives it his all, but there's a hollowness that ends up rendering the whole thing fairly forgettable—the cinematic equivalent of a piece of art you buy only because it goes well with the couch. Read full review
50
VarietyMurtada ElfadlMar 17, 2023
Inside has an intriguing premise and an actor who makes whatever’s thrown at him intriguingly watchable. What it lacks is sufficient sense of who this character is, and a resonant enough narrative to justify being locked up together. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 21, 2023
Even the formidable Dafoe at his most intense ultimately can’t stop Inside from succumbing to its own narrowness, devolving into a self-reflexive portrait of soul-sucking isolation. Read full review
45
Paste MagazineBrianna ZiglerMar 14, 2023
Inside‘s concept holds creative possibility, yes, but without much, if any, applied, it’s just a guy stuck in an apartment for 105 minutes, going through various stages of disbelief, acceptance, mania, determination and setback as days, weeks and months go by, and desperation becomes more of a necessity than a last resort. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 17, 2023
The results are dispiritingly pleasureless, as though to fully embrace the idea of a penthouse prison would get in the way of the movie’s nebulous ideas about art. Read full review
40
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 16, 2023
Even an Oscar-nominated GOAT can’t escape something that seems so perfectly put together on the outside and is so flawed, easily trashed, and barely held together on the inside. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleAlejandra MartinezMar 16, 2023
Inside has all the surface trappings of an arthouse hit, but don’t look too closely – there isn’t much there. Read full review
More From This Movie

53 Critic Reviews

4.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL