Metal Lords
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): April 8, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 15, 2022
The story belongs to its young cast, and Lords' ramshackle comedy sweetly captures the rank anxiety, random humiliations, and undiluted hope of being young. Read full review
75
The PlaylistAsher LubertoApr 20, 2022
It’s a sweetly funny, damning, and poignant depiction of this very specific time in life–at once angsty and lovely–when anything is possible. And it has a killer soundtrack to boot. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsApr 8, 2022
The film may be cinematic comfort food, but its creators do earn our trust and nail all the essential beats they need to along the way. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRobert MorastApr 7, 2022
While the movie can play like one big valentine to an adolescent’s adoration of metal music culture, it also nails the most important aspect of metal music in a teen’s life: how it can provide a sense of power to misfits who often feel like they have none. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonApr 7, 2022
A romance, bromance and good-natured send-up of teenage obsession. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanApr 7, 2022
Conventional but genuine, Metal Lords comprehends the riot of adolescent emotions and the many ways teenagers manage them. Read full review
67
ConsequenceAl ShipleyApr 7, 2022
Metal Lords, though it hits some nice high notes, never quite grabs you like the best coming-of-age movies thanks to Peter Sollett’s flat, uninspired direction. Read full review
65
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganApr 8, 2022
While the film’s premise is appealing enough in its coming-of-age charm, the central characters themselves are intensely grating. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 8, 2022
It’s “post death/doom metal” served with a side of cheese, and it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayApr 12, 2022
Metal Lords traffics way too much in teen movie clichés; but whenever it sticks to the music and the relationships between its core trio of weirdoes, it’s genuinely affecting. Read full review
60
NMEPaul BradshawApr 8, 2022
Never quite sure enough of itself to answer its own questions, this is a fun, sweet and occasionally funny film, but it’s never going to win a battle of the band movies. Read full review
60
VarietyCourtney HowardApr 7, 2022
In a film that sings the praises of heavy metal music and reveres those who create it, Metal Lords stumbles in its ability to truly rock. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichApr 13, 2022
Metal Lords may never find the rhythm a movie like this needs in order to stay in the sweet spot between goofy and charming, but there’s a stubborn kernel of truth to how casually its young characters learn to hear themselves by listening to Judas Priest. Read full review
58
ColliderRoss BonaimeApr 8, 2022
Metal Lords ends just when it feels like it’s finding its footing, with its characters taking too much time to address their flaws, leaving the music and the bonds that have been formed via the music, on the back burner for too long. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakApr 7, 2022
It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but I was smiling for the duration, and its subversions of certain archetypes (see Noah Urrea’s Clay) kept things marginally fresh. Good and bad, it met expectations. Read full review
50
Screen RantFerdosa AbdiApr 13, 2022
The film is at its best, visually and narratively, when it is deeply entrenched in metal. There is a visceral impact to the third act which truly hones in on what this film has been lacking from the beginning. Read full review
50
IGNMatt FowlerApr 8, 2022
Metal Lords is earnest with metal but sloppy with character and story. It delivers a rousing finale but the journey there is uninspired and half-formed. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 7, 2022
Though there aren’t many laughs on the way to that Battle of the Bands, Sollett’s unassuming cast and breezy pace ensure we won’t be too bored before we get there. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 7, 2022
There are some laughs (a well-placed police baton, for one). But Metal Lords feels unfinished, rough, like a solo the guitarist never mastered. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithApr 7, 2022
Peter Sollett’s coming-of-age comedy betrays rather than upholds the values of the very kids it wants to revere. Read full review
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