Life After Beth
A24 | Release Date: August 15, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyGeoff BerkshireJun 25, 2014
Blending smart fantasy elements, broad comedy, tender romance and an atypically slow-burning apocalypse, the directorial debut of “I Heart Huckabees” co-writer Jeff Baena is charming, thoughtful and laugh-out-loud funny. Read full review
80
EmpireOwen WilliamsSep 29, 2014
We must surely now be getting close to some sort of zombie saturation point, with even the zomromcom becoming a distinct subsubgenre. On Beth’s evidence, however, there’s life in the undead yet. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 25, 2014
Sometimes tender, sometimes frantic and always funny, the film's surprising coherence is exemplified in a climactic scene that pairs credible heartbreak with pure slapstick. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezSep 4, 2014
Unfortunately, Life After Beth starts feeling more conventional the wilder and darker it gets, and the laughs become more sparse as the movie winds to its bizarre and but unsatisfying conclusion. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 13, 2014
The premise would make for a great Funny or Die video, but stretched out to feature length, it runs out of ideas pretty quickly. Still, Plaza is terrific. She commits so fully to her rabid, Romero-esque alter ego, she chews the movie up. Read full review
67
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanAug 21, 2014
If you wanted to, you could see this movie as an allegory about people who love each other but can never connect. Or maybe it’s a warning to parents who turn a blind eye to children’s failings until the family self-destructs. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniAug 22, 2014
Featuring an awe-inspiring, stellar performance by Parks and Recreation's (and Wilmington's) Aubrey Plaza as Beth, the film opens with the high school girl's short-lived death. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 14, 2014
The best thing Life After Beth has going for it is what star Aubrey Plaza calls its "zom-com-rom-dram" premise. And the clever wordplay of its title. Read full review
61
Film.comKate ErblandJun 25, 2014
Baena takes a well-tread road, leaving behind the guts of his promising story and never capitalizing on the charms of either romance or his leading lady. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 21, 2014
Despite the best efforts of Plaza and the rest of the cast, Life After Beth never winds up being as scary or as funny as it ought to be. Read full review
60
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekAug 12, 2014
It's not quite as crazy as it needs to be: There's something listless about Life After Beth — it starts out as a reflection on the potentially morbid nature of grief and then doesn't seem to know where to go. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 12, 2014
There’s social satire for those who want it — don’t tell the rest of the neighborhood our daughter’s risen from the dead! — and a fine, simmering sense of apocalypse that turns this suburban community into a war zone. Still, it’s a lot of heavy lifting for what amounts to “he’s just not that into you,” mainly because you’re as ripe as a cadaver. Read full review
58
The PlaylistCory EverettJun 25, 2014
Baena’s debut just never really comes to life and unfortunately lacks the bite the best of the genre has to offer. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 4, 2014
Aubrey Plaza is so deadpan she's undeadpan, and not just in her new zombie movie. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianMarc MohanAug 22, 2014
First-time director Jeff Baena struggles with framing, editing, tone and casting, leading to an unimpressive entry in the ever-burgeoning zombie comedy genre. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 18, 2014
Life After Beth is a reasonably fun, medium-gory horror comedy that’s better before the innards hit the fan. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 15, 2014
Life After Beth gets into the well-tread zombie-comedy territory in a clever and inspired way. Then it doesn’t get out of it nearly so skillfully. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 14, 2014
Written and directed by Jeff Baena, this first feature feels sloppily plotted and uncertain of its destination. Seasoned actors are left to yell pointlessly at one another, while Beth and the zombie angle slowly decompose. Read full review
50
ObserverMatthew KasselAug 14, 2014
It’s a genuine stab at romantic comedy that stumbles more than it strides. Read full review
50
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiAug 14, 2014
The misused cast is just one of many examples of the unrealized potential of Life After Beth, a film that has good bones, but not enough meat, guts, or—most damningly for a zombie movie—brains. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAug 13, 2014
Enjoy the wordplay in the title, because that’s as witty as the horror comedy Life After Beth ever gets. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenAug 13, 2014
Stars Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan are game, as is the lineup of mostly wasted supporting actors. But what might have been a snappy short is interminable at feature length, the mayhem-in-suburbia conceit generating few laughs as it stomps along. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickAug 13, 2014
Nowhere near as funny as you’d expect with its stellar cast. Read full review
50
TheWrapInkoo KangAug 13, 2014
There are too few real humans in Life After Beth, resulting in a lack of both brains and heart. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 12, 2014
This dark comedy has a lot of promise for about half its length. Then, unfortunately, it settles into the mundane genre picture that it seems doomed to be. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 9, 2014
Life After Beth, a frustrating affair due to its waste of resources, feels rushed and under-rehearsed. It is a style of film-making that hopes it can glide its way into your good graces on ad-hoc performance flourishes, a wall-to-wall audio mix and editing patches. One soon recognizes this all a cover for one key issue: a lack of original ideas. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 5, 2014
Even most of the fine actors, including Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly and Cheryl Hines, at times seem lost as to whether they should be playing the material for laughs, or going for a more straightforward approach and letting the laughs come to them. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezAug 11, 2014
Jeff Baena's film, at heart, is just another overly familiar story of a boy struggling to get over his first love and who's rewarded for his troubles with a less volatile replacement model. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Courtney SheaAug 29, 2014
It is certainly possible that Baena is going for a deeper meaning, but even that feels like a case of indecisiveness. Read full review
10
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 21, 2014
The promise of its premise is squandered all too soon in what becomes yet another tiresome exercise in the way-overworked zombie genre. Read full review
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