Luckiest Girl Alive
Netflix | Release Date: September 30, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 7, 2022
While the material at times veers close to exploitation, Knoll’s writing and Kunis’ performance ensure this is ultimately a tale of survival and perseverance — of a victim who refuses to let that label define her. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 7, 2022
The movie maintains interest throughout and it’s ultimately satisfying, though with one qualification: The last minutes treat the story as though its whole purpose was to illustrate a social and political issue. It’s actually, for 98% of its running time, the story of a person — and it’s better that way. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 7, 2022
The film . . . is good, not great; it never quite marries the skewering of New York elites with the true-crime feel of its grittier elements. But the performances keep it mostly on track. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 7, 2022
Luckiest Girl is the kind of rainy-day thriller Netflix was made for: lurid, entertaining, patently silly. It's also kind of a mess, though at least some of that likely comes from condensing the busy, grisly events of a best-selling book into less than two hours of screen time. Read full review
61
Paste MagazineAmy AmatangeloOct 7, 2022
There’s a worthwhile story in here about the long-term effects of trauma, how society disregards and casts aside adolescent girls, how quick we are to blame the victim, how bullying can lead to terror—but all these messages gets lost in translation. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonOct 7, 2022
Kunis’s alpha female appears at once ferocious and like a conspicuous sham. (Imagine Sheryl Sandberg as a “Scooby-Doo” villain.) Her performance carries the film — a fortunate break for the director Mike Barker, who has the near-impossible challenge of shepherding the tone from snark to painful sincerity. Read full review
58
IndieWireSamantha BergesonOct 7, 2022
Small edits could have propelled the film into a dark drama instead of something resembling a PSA. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonOct 7, 2022
The unquestionably well-intentioned and obviously deeply personal Luckiest Girl Alive would benefit from more mature guidance. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayOct 7, 2022
Based on Jessica Knoll’s best-selling mystery novel, the Mike Barker-directed Luckiest Girl Alive — with a script by Knoll — falls into the trap of trying too hard to capture not just the book’s flashback-heavy plot but also its distinctive voice. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 7, 2022
Director Mike Barker’s slick, vaguely pernicious take on the material is a blend of dead-serious anguish and feel-good vindication. While many will find the results effective, others will not simply resist the guessing games and pulp instincts at odds with the trauma, but actively resent them. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeOct 7, 2022
Luckiest Girl Alive struggles to balance its dual aspirations: delivering an emotionally wrought tale about survival and wrapping its gravity in the cheeky breeziness of publishing comedies like Freeform’s The Bold Type. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryOct 7, 2022
Luckiest Girl Alive falls short of its promise, a reminder that, however ironic the title is intended to be, fortune tends to favor the bold. Read full review
40
VarietyCourtney HowardOct 7, 2022
Because of its unwieldy aspects, primarily those shoe-horned into the climax, its simplistic conclusion draws ire instead of the inspired elation these filmmakers crave. Read full review
40
The GuardianAdrian HortonOct 7, 2022
There are pieces of Luckiest Girl Alive that seem interested in a life splintered by trauma, in the relief of unburdening, the hunger for certainty over what happened, the thrill of playing on cultural expectations for women. But the story it ultimately tells is an empty, self-serving fantasy. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesOct 7, 2022
The whole thing is mostly made up of tasteless decisions. Read full review
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