Saltburn
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: November 17, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 53 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
22
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreNov 16, 2023
Saltburn’s seductive imagery outweighs its obvious attempts at provocation. And while it does end up making being rich look pretty sweet, that’s not exactly a revelation worth hanging a whole movie on. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeNov 15, 2023
Fennell sets off in the right direction. A strong cast helps her on her way. But conviction falters long before the tables are kicked over. Read full review
60
EmpireSophie ButcherNov 14, 2023
Fennell’s second feature is both evocative and provocative, with lashings of style but questionable substance. It doesn’t stick the landing, but the ride right before the nosedive is a properly enjoyable one. Read full review
60
Total FilmKate StablesOct 4, 2023
Taking aim at England’s ruthless ruling class rather than American misogyny, it’s a glossy, wildly over-the-top satire about a working-class student’s fatal attraction to an aristo family. Saltburn is a fiercely funny watch, albeit one that doesn’t deliver on its promise quite as well as Fennell’s debut. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 4, 2023
Saltburn is an English mystery drama of the high-cheekboned upper classes, watchable but sometimes weirdly overheated and grandiose, with some secondhand posh-effect stylings, a movie derived from Evelyn Waugh and Patricia Highsmith, with a bit of Pasolini. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 2, 2023
Fennell is adept at pastiche, and at least she goes for sources worth plundering. But this is a movie that’s all surface cleverness, with nothing terribly insightful to say about its rarefied milieu and those gazing in longingly from the outside. Even so, Saltburn is juicy stuff, a revenge thriller that’s often wickedly funny and wildly enjoyable. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonNov 14, 2023
It’s steamy and transgressive in a straightforward way, an in-your-face bacchanal of sex and violence of the kind Fennell so delights in depicting. But as the film barrels toward its bonkers but highly predictable twist, the shine on Saltburn begins to fade. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 2, 2023
Another smirking and vaguely satirical psycho-thriller that wants to have its cake, eat it too, and then soil the plate for good measure, Fennell’s immaculately crafted follow-up to “Promising Young Woman” might have a lot more fun pushing your buttons if it had any clue how to get under your skin. Read full review
55
Paste MagazineAnna McKibbinOct 16, 2023
Complete with MGMT tracks and low-rise jeans, Saltburn is a stylized take on the early 2000s, capturing the hollow aspirations of a generation raised on the grit and glamor of early reality TV. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAlan NgNov 30, 2023
Saltburn just goes too far, and its startling images shocked me out of the story altogether. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyNov 22, 2023
It’s a movie full of grotesques behaving more or less grotesquely. There’s a school of thought that thinks unpleasantness in a movie qualifies as moral candor and high seriousness. Executed well enough and conceived imaginatively enough, it can be. Here it’s simply unpleasantness. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 21, 2023
If Fennell doesn't quite stick the landing -- if her story of striving, sexual obsession, class resentment and revenge ultimately feels puny and predictable -- she certainly has fun getting there. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckNov 21, 2023
Make no mistake, the clever writing is here, as is the style, the sleek technique, and some terrific performances (Rosamund Pike is especially delicious in a supporting role). What’s missing, or muddled, is the message — and perhaps even more, the heart. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekNov 17, 2023
Saltburn begins with a mildly intriguing premise. But Fennell can’t seem to distinguish dark, transgressive pleasures from outright unpleasantness, and the whole enterprise ends with an acrid aftertaste. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfNov 15, 2023
In the end, Saltburn doesn’t have a lot to add to the conversation Fennell keeps wanting to have about the power of white men in this world. It’s a surface-level critique of the upper class and a style-over-substance poke at the out-of-touch aristocrats and the bitter have-nots. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMarshall ShafferNov 8, 2023
Be it sexuality, gender, class, age, or race, there’s scarcely a hot-button issue of identity that Emerald Fennell won’t invoke to amplify the stakes of an obvious metaphor. Read full review
50
The Film StageCaleb HammondSep 7, 2023
The class-satire elements within a classic insider-outsider narrative act as familiar comfort. It’s when Fennell must forge her own path in the final act that she falters. To put it simply: landing the plane is hard. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 2, 2023
Fennell’s debut promised a fearless original voice and style. Saltburn certainly has attitude, but nothing new to say. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubCourtney HowardNov 16, 2023
The handful of explicit scenes feel like they’re included solely for shock value, coming across as schlocky and inert. That’s not to say the performances are at fault. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 20, 2023
There is little satisfaction to be found in the picture’s messily uninhibited climax. Read full review
40
Little White LiesHannah StrongNov 16, 2023
What begins as a genuinely entertaining and well-pitched dramedy quickly becomes ridiculous and out of touch. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 2, 2023
Saltburn is shocking only in its puerility. No sophomore effort should feel this sophomoric. Read full review
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