Masterminds
Relativity Media | Release Date: September 30, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
14
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubSep 30, 2016
Masterminds has been “coming soon” for so long it would put "Batman v Superman" to shame, but the end result is an entertaining comic thriller with physical showcases for many of Saturday Night Live’s best recent veterans. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzSep 30, 2016
If smart dumb comedies hold a place in your heart, you'll like Masterminds. The main characters are masterminds only in their own heads, and the thoughts that tumble out of their mouths are as nonsensical as they are sincere. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 29, 2016
Masterminds delivers for the most part. Kate McKinnon, as David’s wife, does her usual frozen-face, crazy-eyed weird thing, but this time she’s funny. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 29, 2016
It’s this improv-ready ensemble’s wit and Galifianakis’ own gift for physical humor that account for most of the laugh-out-loud moments, heightened by silly flourishes so eccentric...they could only be found in a Jared Hess movie. Read full review
70
TheWrapDave WhiteSep 29, 2016
Masterminds is kinder to its characters than most comedies about the bumbling and under-educated, and that’s Hess’s strength. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniSep 30, 2016
Masterminds is filled with the sort of idiotic bathroom humor that has become standard in big-screen comedies, but it is enlivened by the surreal slapstick touches that made Napoleon Dynamite so good. Even though it isn't the sharpest comedy, it had me in stitches. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Andrew ParkerSep 29, 2016
Galifianakis grounds the film with a guileless sensitivity and bursts of ingenuity beneath his character’s buffoonish nature. Wiig and Wilson struggle at times with the offbeat tone, but the stacked supporting cast pick up the slack. Kate McKinnon shines as Galifianakis’s dead-eyed fiancée with all the personality of fresh roadkill, and Jason Sudeikis’s pencil-moustached hitman and Leslie Jones’s FBI agent steal their scenes. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshSep 29, 2016
Masterminds still has its riotously funny moments, thanks to the fearless, uninhibited actors and a director who lets them play. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanSep 29, 2016
Bits of welcome weirdness creep in, mainly through the too-brief character of Ghantt’s intense fiancée (Kate McKinnon). But Hess has little time for wit. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 30, 2016
The movie lacks the visual snap that would push the humor into next-level American satire. Still, you can’t help but laugh at scenes that could be mini-cartoons in themselves. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSep 29, 2016
At its playful best, the screenplay by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey sends up crime-movie clichés with a light touch, and Hess shows uncharacteristic restraint in letting those moments play out without reaching for punchlines. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 30, 2016
Take away Kristen Wiig, and Masterminds offers nothing. She is by far the best thing about the movie and easily outshines her SNL compatriots Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Jason Sudeikis. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 29, 2016
There are laughs, but the uneven cast and the odd wonderful bit of physical shtick don’t add up to the sustained silliness that Masterminds cries out for. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartSep 29, 2016
I cracked up here and there watching this broad heist comedy, but it wasn’t laughter I felt great about. Director Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”) has always gone for geeks and oddballs, but this film mostly punches down at characters for being poor, unfashionable and stupid. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 29, 2016
The full-on goofiness is not reliably buoyant; this is an intermittently enjoyable but often choppy comic ride. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianSep 29, 2016
Jared Hess's film turns out to be a succession of failed jokes punctuated by a few cathartic laughs. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 29, 2016
It’s weird-stupid more than good-stupid. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 29, 2016
Sometimes it’s absurdist comedy. Sometimes it’s dark comedy. Sometimes it’s out-and-out killing-people drama (almost, but not quite). It’s often funny, but it never quite hangs together as a coherent movie. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 29, 2016
Masterminds leans heavily on its cast of comic ringers—Ken Marino as a yuppie neighbor, Jason Sudeikis as a cavalier hit man, Leslie Jones as an irate federal agent—without giving them anything especially funny to say or do. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisOct 5, 2016
The movie’s disjointed weirdness begs the question: Was Hess ever in the driver’s seat? Read full review
40
Village VoiceVadim RizovOct 3, 2016
The film is competent in its framing and editing in a way that most comedies aren’t (compare/contrast with Neighbors 2, which is barely a movie except in the most technical sense) and avoids dead-end-obvious improv. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoSep 29, 2016
If you’re laughing at all throughout Masterminds, it’s probably because of Jason Sudeikis. Read full review
40
EmpireNick de SemlyenOct 5, 2015
The film strains in two different directions, half trying to stay true to its based-on-fact roots, half wanting to ditch all that and become a ridiculous farce. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 30, 2016
The movie has been on ice awaiting release for over a year, owing to the bankruptcy of its studio, Relativity. But some of the jokes were moldy long before that happened. Masterminds owes us our two hours back. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenSep 29, 2016
There are some genuinely funny bits but, alas, far too few. Read full review
25
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 29, 2016
It’s every cheap, fast, loose, pointless joke in the book, and barely any of them can clear a solid laugh. Read full review
20
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyOct 3, 2016
Masterminds stars some of the funniest names in comedy. Kristen Wiig. Kate McKinnon. Zach Galifianakis. Jason Sudeikis. Leslie Jones. Too bad the movie isn’t funny. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsAllen SalkinSep 29, 2016
This movie was made by a bunch of hired guns who had their hearts elsewhere. Masterminds does center around a heist — one committed on ticket buyers. Read full review
20
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 29, 2016
Masterminds is a bit of an interesting case study, as it is basically a Coen brothers film but put through a mechanism that removes all the wit, visual style or excitement. In its place are tortuously dull set-pieces, rambling dialogue and banal stagings. Read full review
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