Plainclothes
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 19, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireBeth WebbOct 17, 2025
Carmen Emmi compellingly mines thriller tropes to capture the fraught experience of suppressed sexuality, but it's Lucas and Andrew’s heart-rending, beautifully performed love story that endures. Read full review
80
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJan 31, 2025
Consequences, choices, love, identity, and paranoia are all at the center of this mesmerizing thriller. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comCarlos AguilarSep 19, 2025
Though some elements read forcedly wedged in for thematic potency, “Plainclothes” feels seductively alive when Lucas and Andrew are alone together—either under the warm lights of the movie theater, where their shadows betray them, or as their hands touch the other’s body inside a lonely greenhouse. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkFeb 5, 2025
A darker take on coming out, Plainclothes has a few familiar twists but ultimately succeeds through its performances and take on the material. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJan 31, 2025
What truly elevates Plainclothes in this genre are the contributions from Tovey and Blyth. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 16, 2025
There may be little that’s psychologically fresh about Plainclothes, but the fact that its low-key, close-framed style suggests a taut, moody gay indie you might have seen in the ’90s works in its favor. It’s also well cast. Read full review
70
The New York TimesChris AzzopardiSep 18, 2025
While the writer-director Carmen Emmi’s evocative debut relies on a nostalgically textured aesthetic that sometimes seems to mask its thin narrative, the heat builds in unexpected ways, ultimately igniting through the quiet agony of living as someone you’re not. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 31, 2025
Plainclothes builds to an intense and ultimately cathartic climax, but there’s something retrograde about the shame Lucas feels. Emmi wants us to experience his protagonist’s sense of suffocation, when looking back from the present, we just want to shout: “It gets better!” Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 31, 2025
First-time writer-director Carmen Emmi’s aesthetically overworked use of low-grade video and distorted sound is intrusive, but very fine performances from Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey keep you glued to this sexy, sad, authentically gritty drama. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonJan 31, 2025
Sexy, scary, and occasionally clumsy, Carmen Emmi’s feature-length directorial debut, Plainclothes, is an anxious and unabashed gay drama about social repression and its impacts. Read full review
50
ColliderJason GorberFeb 5, 2025
While parts of it are laudable, unfortunately, Emmi’s film feels underbaked, never truly elevating its story to generate the kind of deeper effect that similar thrillers have managed to elicit. Read full review
50
IndieWireChristian ZilkoJan 31, 2025
Even without the editing problems, it’s not clear that the narrative bones of Plainclothes were ever strong enough for the movie to work. The entire film often resembles a jumble of queer cinema archetypes executed better on many other occasions. Read full review
40
Little White LiesAlexander MooneyOct 10, 2025
Carmen Emmi’s fraught debut Plainclothes has the makings of a steamy, provocative thriller, but seems disinterested in meaningfully grappling with the implications of its premise. Read full review
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