Master Gardener
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: May 19, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
15
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Little White LiesHannah StrongMay 26, 2023
The beauty in Schrader’s work has always been in the relationship between penance and absolution, which feels noticeably absent here. It’s a shame because the trio of Edgerton, Swindell, and Weaver deliver strong performances, and Devonte Hynes’ romantic score with a slight edge of sombreness is nicely atmospheric, but the film’s third act feels too neat and unconvincing, particularly given the sharpness of the conclusion in Schrader’s last two films. Read full review
60
Time OutStephen A. RussellMay 17, 2023
As the film shifts away from the mansion and into a pretty pat subplot about far-right goons and drug addiction, it grows less like a prize-winning flower and more like a clump of unsightly weeds, further sunk by underwhelming work from Schrader’s regular cinematographer Alexander Dynan. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 17, 2022
Schrader can do this stuff in his sleep, and in Master Gardener you sometimes wonder if he might be. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 17, 2022
Ultimately, Narvel is the fascist as liberal fantasy. Someone with access to skilled violence, who can unleash it at whim. It’s such a pity that a screenwriter who used to excel at delineating the intricacies of male insecurity and poison now comes out with such a one-dimensional character. Read full review
58
Original-CinLiz BraunMay 16, 2023
The writer-director behind The Card Counter and First Reformed makes a misstep here, courtesy unlikely characters and sometimes mystifying plot changes. Luckily, stars Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver are in top form, which is enough to keep a viewer happily occupied for the first hour. Read full review
50
The New YorkerRichard BrodyMay 23, 2023
Master Gardener is a movie divided against itself. Here, Schrader tells a different kind of story, with a different kind of dramatic contour and focus, and the result is a jolting, ironic disjunction of style and substance. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 22, 2023
It’s almost as if the movie were following the blueprint of a moral scheme, like the layout of a herbaceous border, and plausibility be damned. Read full review
50
Screen RantGraeme GuttmannMay 21, 2023
While Schrader's directing and the casts' performances are more than up to standard, Master Gardener somehow ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMay 19, 2023
Master Gardener plays less like a thematic finale and more like the director is trying to exorcise himself of his perpetual idée fixe. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 18, 2023
The possibility of redemption hangs over this movie, as it does in much of Schrader’s work. But for the first time in this trilogy, that possibility is resolved in a manner that feels neither fully examined nor earned. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 16, 2023
I wanted to buy this story. I really did. But its protagonist floats through the action — filled with jealousy, lust and violence — as though he were anesthetized. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMay 15, 2023
A charitable reading of Master Gardener would be to say that it feels unfinished and unformed—that there might be something here with another pass at the script or a different cast. Read full review
40
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 17, 2022
Master Gardener is all fingers and thumbs for much of its running time, kept sporadically in order only by the stern, trusty presence of Edgerton himself. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 17, 2022
Perhaps Schrader will indeed defiantly return to his accustomed theme for his next film – and this brilliant, restless director might well make it work. Sadly, this one doesn’t. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 17, 2022
Joel Edgerton’s haunted central performance as former white supremacist Narvel Roth fits the essential Schrader mold of a troubled soul hiding from his demons. But little else rings true in a drama curiously lacking in texture, which misses the mark in lifeless scene after scene. Read full review
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