Kidnapping Mr. Heineken
Alchemy | Release Date: March 6, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
12
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex ReedMar 4, 2015
Anthony Hopkins plays the king of the hops, and he is excellent. So is the rest of the movie, a sober, no-frills account about the highest ransom ever collected up to that time — $10 million and counting. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 5, 2015
The true story of Freddy Heineken’s kidnapping is fascinating, but Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is a disappointingly superficial film in which neither the kidnappers nor their captives are particularly interesting. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 3, 2015
It’s a good looking film, just a tad on the dull and predictable side. But the occasional flash of Hopkins threatens, at several moments, to turn this formulaic true-heist tale into something more psychological, more pathological or at least allegorical. He isn’t really given the chance. Read full review
42
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMar 3, 2015
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken never conveys how a bunch of working stiffs transformed themselves into a coiled — if scrappy and ragtag — criminal operation. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRupert HawksleyApr 9, 2015
A flabby, directionless disappointment, which only occasionally raises the heart-rate. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 8, 2015
A strangely lacklustre, unconvincing attempt to tell the story of the Heineken kidnapping. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 5, 2015
Despite its true-events pedigree, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is woefully captive to B-movie crime saga tropes. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 5, 2015
Mr. Hopkins doesn’t have much to do, but it can be amusing to see him upstage everyone else with sonorous murmurings and imperious demands for a robe and Chinese takeout. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 5, 2015
Sam Worthington and Jim Sturgess are solid as two of the four kidnappers, but Swedish director Daniel Alfredson pushes the caper button too many times. More sly wit would have helped things come to a head. Read full review
40
The DissolveNathan RabinMar 5, 2015
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken isn’t a comedy of incompetence, or the psychological battle of wills its opening scene suggests. It’s hard to see exactly what the filmmakers were going for, beyond bringing a real-life story to the big screen as dutifully and dully as possible. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 5, 2015
The utter lack of surprises and waste of a first-rate cast — Anthony Hopkins as Alfred "Freddy" Heineken; Jim Sturgess and Sam Worthington as kidnappers — make for a tremendous letdown. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMar 4, 2015
By the time the relatively brief but seemingly interminable proceedings reach their conclusion, viewers may feel like they've been held hostage themselves. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAaron HillisMar 3, 2015
Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, and True Blood's Ryan Kwanten co-star in this glossy, lifelessly paced edition as three of the criminals, though their underwritten personas and motivations are fairly interchangeable. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereMar 5, 2015
The problem with Kidnapping Mr. Heineken, which is the second movie in four years about the sensational 1983 crime (the other was a Dutch production with Rutger Hauer as the dapper snatchee), is that it follows the kidnappers out the door instead of sticking with the coolly composed man behind it. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithMar 4, 2015
A dull, trite thriller. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineCarson LundMar 3, 2015
For all the thematic emphasis the script ultimately places on the allegedly thick bonds among these men, it's surprising how often they communicate solely through exposition. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith UhlichMar 5, 2015
Much like the lager that gives the film its name, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is bland on the palette and best pissed away. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comDan CallahanMar 6, 2015
The filmmakers were able to pay his fee, and so Hopkins shows up for another rubbishy, misbegotten project and shames the whole enterprise with his open and volatile face, his incisive voice, his mere ultra-soulful presence. Read full review
10
VarietyScott FoundasMar 5, 2015
About as appealing as day-old beer littered with cigarette butts, the abysmal caper drama Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is one of those international co-productions produced for all the right tax-credit reasons and none of the right artistic ones. Read full review
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