Sharper
Apple TV+ | Release Date: February 10, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
We Got This CoveredMartin CarrFeb 8, 2023
Piled high with plot twists and packed full of peerless performances, Sharper brings together Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, and John Lithgow in a brooding long con thriller from Apple. Delivering something fresh from the streaming service, which continues to champion originality without limits. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedFeb 10, 2023
One of the classiest intellectual thrillers in ages. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubAndy KleinFeb 10, 2023
The film operates like a clockwork mechanism. If there were foul-ups or major implausibilities—as such trick plots often have—they eluded me. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattFeb 10, 2023
It's easy to lose count of the double and triple crosses in Sharper, a silly and unabashedly camp thriller that is, frankly, exactly the kind of sleek, shenanigan-y frolic that bleak midwinter calls for. Read full review
83
ConsequenceMary SirokyFeb 7, 2023
Sharper is an incredibly entertaining entry into the canon of Apple Originals. While it might not have the threshold of darkness or intensity that classify it exactly as a neo-noir, this film is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery. While these characters here might be lying and cheating their way to victory, Sharper comes out on top on its own merits. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 18, 2023
The performances, so thickly layered with charm and artifice that it’s hard to know what and who is real and what isn’t, are first-rate. It’s a pacy and enjoyable movie. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonFeb 7, 2023
Sharper is sinewy and clever, a keenly acted and written B-picture of the sort that were once myriad but now only come around once every few years. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 7, 2023
The endgame could be… sharper. There’s an elaborate hoax that’s too easy to suss out – even for us, and we’re not the seasoned con artists on the receiving end. At this point, the film’s own confidence seems to falter just a fraction. Then again, the chinks in these crooks’ cynical armour are what give it texture, a mottling of human desperation. Instead of smug gotchas, it traffics in mistakes. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 7, 2023
Like the luxury goods that in one scene we see being stolen, the performances are out of the top drawer, and it is a great pleasure to see Moore on such good form: no one cries more needily, and with more nakedly sinister intent, than her. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 9, 2023
Sharper ticks so assuredly in execution the hitches won’t distract you – and that may be the biggest con of all. Read full review
77
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganFeb 10, 2023
The heist-adjacent film presents a mesmerizing vision of New York that relishes in the city’s more intimate details while painting an overarching picture of those who survive by scamming one feckless schmuck after another. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaMar 9, 2023
Featuring multiple lead characters, many points of view, and more twists than a Twizzler, this construct may feel convoluted in spots. Yet it is a concise, well-told piece of entertainment that’s smart enough to know being too clever can be a crutch. Read full review
75
ABC NewsPeter TraversFeb 17, 2023
Even though the ending fizzles out, the star power of Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan turns this tale of con artists on the hustle among Manhattan one-percenters into a sleek, sexy sophisticated thriller with twists that won’t quit. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 10, 2023
Sharper works like a machine, and so it seems unfair to complain that, by the end, it feels too mechanical. It’s fun. It should have been more fun, but take the fun where you can get it. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 9, 2023
An enjoyable and slick little thriller with a brilliant cast of actors clearly having a good time sinking their teeth into the salacious material. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanFeb 8, 2023
In the case of Sharper, we’re treated to puzzle boxes within puzzle boxes, each one delivered in sequential chapters — titled after the film’s main characters, Tom, Sandra, Max and Madeline — and unpacked, initially in reverse chronological order, with satisfying, if somewhat predictable, style and suspense. If you’re seeking substance, look elsewhere. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJake CoyleFeb 8, 2023
A slinky, slick caper that finds ways to distort expectations while unfolding a puzzle-box narrative. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 8, 2023
As dark as “The Grifters,” as over-the-top as “The Sting,” Sharper is a fresh take on a time-tested genre, a “Who can you trust?” tale from the Land of the Big Con. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayFeb 17, 2023
It’s stylish and well-acted, and it does keep viewers guessing. It does its job well. It’s a pretty-looking puzzle. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 7, 2023
You might know where this is all going, but damn if you won’t enjoy the wild ride there. Read full review
66
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 15, 2023
When the narrative knife is as dull as it is here, there is just no fun in bleeding out. If Caron and his collaborators don’t learn their lesson, though, at least we will. Work smarter, not Sharper. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldFeb 17, 2023
Great acting is a con game, of the highest order, and it’s a pleasure to be Moore’s mark. Read full review
60
Screen RantGraeme GuttmannFeb 17, 2023
For all its shortcomings, Sharper manages to pull together all of its cons with a finesse that could have easily been bungled in less capable hands. Even if it fails at its greatest con of all — pulling one over on audiences — it still manages to be a taut thriller that feels fully realized. Read full review
60
EmpireStaff (Not Credited)Feb 7, 2023
As a dramatic thriller, Sharper isn’t quite as dramatic or thrilling as it could be — but it’s got more than enough Big Bastard Energy to give you a good time. Read full review
58
ColliderTherese LacsonFeb 20, 2023
Ultimately, there's much to enjoy in Sharper, with a premise that offers intrigue and a strong group of performances, but it falls flat at the end, unwilling to dig deeper into its characters or the meaning behind its story. Read full review
58
The PlaylistSimon ThompsonFeb 10, 2023
However well Sharper is put together, the sum of its parts doesn’t quite add up, and it’s hard to ignore that something that laughs in the face of a linear narrative, and embraces bold complexities, feels too flat and par for the course. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldFeb 16, 2023
The film’s biggest trick might be casting Moore, Stan and the positively glowing Middleton and still never quite catching fire. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineRoss McIndoeFeb 12, 2023
A fumbled ending lets the air out of what is otherwise a fun and quietly stylish caper. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoFeb 10, 2023
The problem is that the Mamet brand of tough-talking puzzle movie is harder to pull off than it looks, and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka just don’t have the gift of dialogue needed to elevate this thriller beyond its foundation. Read full review
50
IGNSamantha NelsonFeb 9, 2023
While Sharper is visually stylish and is driven by some excellent performances from Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, and Brianna Middleton, this con-artist thriller overuses the same plot twists so much that they lose all their impact, and later the initially shrewd characters become too easily bamboozled. Read full review
50
Screen DailyNikki BaughanFeb 7, 2023
There are some fun moments in Sharper, not to mention its attractive production and costume design, and Moore is clearly having a blast with a character who is sexy and smart in equal measure. But with the story broken down into obvious individual character-focused jigsaw pieces, viewers won’t need many of their own wits about them to guess where this tale is headed. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeFeb 7, 2023
This is a film best experienced in a group setting, among friends, the kind of project that fosters conspiratorial thinking and could inspire multiple watches — if only it got out of its own way. Read full review
50
TheWrapKatie WalshFeb 7, 2023
The film is a slickly-executed piece, an enjoyable but almost unbearably twisty puzzle box of narrative fun, but once everything slots together the box is unfortunately empty. Read full review
40
VarietyRene RodriguezFeb 8, 2023
A deep ensemble cast is game for this ambitiously overwrought material, but no amount of committed acting can overcome the movie’s manipulative artifice. Read full review
30
The Daily BeastNick SchagerFeb 7, 2023
It’s an egregiously transparent endeavor modeled after the finest swindle-y works of David Mamet, but boasting none of those predecessors’ cleverness, surprise or precision. Read full review
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