Live by Night
Warner Bros. | Release Date: December 25, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
31
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 12, 2017
The film’s climax is tautly executed; the way everything plays out is a whirl of brutal, violent beauty. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 27, 2016
There’s enough here for half a dozen movies, and you can feel the severe overcrowding. But you can't keep your eyes off it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerDec 27, 2016
The smoothness of the movie’s individual sequences bumps up against narrative raggedness, as Affleck labors to compress a sprawling, novel-ready narrative. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattDec 21, 2016
Live by Night is clearly Affleck’s love letter to classic pulp, and almost no noir touchstone goes unturned in its two-hour-plus run. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJan 12, 2017
Centred on an uxorious guy who is building a gambling palace, Live by Night invites unfortunate comparisons with Martin Scorsese’s 1995 classic "Casino," in which the hero is tortured by his dishonest business and his unstable wife. Of course, Affleck isn’t Robert De Niro – delivering what was probably the last great dramatic role of his career – and Chris Messina as Coughlin’s rather bland sidekick most definitely isn’t Joe Pesci. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 12, 2017
Still, it’s worth seeing for Affleck’s charismatic performance and for its vision of America as a land of greed, violence and political expediency that some moviegoers will find all too familiar. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 12, 2017
A curiously unfocused Prohibition-era gangster epic with some well-choreographed action scenes, a few provocative plot threads — but an increasingly meandering main story line that goes from intriguing to confounding to preachy to what exactly are we even watching here? Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 10, 2017
While the filmmaker conjures beautiful imagery and a subtle exploration of fathers and their children, the good stuff is too often caught up in a muddle of well-tread crime clichés. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartDec 22, 2016
It’s a sprawling plot that consistently teeters on the edge of unwieldiness, but Affleck’s assured directing, gorgeous cinematography by Robert Richardson and a who’s-who of Hollywood’s best character actors keep it mostly on track. Read full review
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