Kill Your Darlings
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: October 16, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 17, 2013
As for Ginsberg himself: Should we be more impressed that Radcliffe so confidently portrays an actual icon, or that he banishes all memories of the fictional one he’s portrayed before? Both accomplishments suggest that he’s got real talent, and a future that’s already taking him well past Harry Potter. Read full review
60
The DissolveSam AdamsOct 16, 2013
Unfortunately, Kill Your Darlings doesn’t know what to do with Radcliffe and DeHaan, good as they are; there’s little sense of how they fit into a larger framework, or what bearing, if any, it might have on its more famous subjects’ later output. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 6, 2013
Unlike Walter Salles’s recent adaptation of On The Road, which embraced the Beat philosophy with a wide and credulous grin, Kill Your Darlings is inquisitive about the movement’s worth, and the genius of its characters is never assumed. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 25, 2013
Director and co-writer John Krokidas doesn’t have a very fluent gift for period re-creation – everything seems stagy – and most of the actors, playing divas of various stripes, overact. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 6, 2013
Well shot and well made, Kill Your Darlings is a very competently constructed effort on a whole, but there’s an emptiness and familiarity at its core that it cannot transcend. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 31, 2013
Despite its general intelligence and worthy performances, Kill Your Darlings makes it difficult to see how the Beats ever caught on. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 17, 2013
Kill Your Darlings wants to be a young man’s movie, but it’s all “cinema du papa,” as the French New Wave used to call it. The philosophical disconnect is downright cosmic. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedOct 16, 2013
Something is missing here, like a clear perspective. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 16, 2013
Far too conventional underneath all the trappings, you wish it would howl. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineBill WeberSep 11, 2013
An overmatched star and a scarcity of eccentricity sink this hip-lit origin story from director John Krokidas. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 22, 2013
Along the way, Krokidas' story becomes a touch schizophrenic, at times a coming-of-age story, a love story, a crime drama and a literary drama. It's hard to say which it functions as best, as none are given too much time to germinate before Krokidas moves on to the next. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonOct 15, 2013
Kill Your Darlings is an undernourished and over-emphatic film. Read full review
40
Time OutEric HynesOct 15, 2013
There’s a heart here, but with all the superficial noise, it’s hard to hear it beating. Read full review
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