Silent Night
RLJE Films | Release Date: December 3, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
IGNSiddhant Adlakha
With a stunningly honest performance from the director’s son — Jojo Rabbit star Roman Griffin Davis — Silent Night balances the eccentricities of a Christmas get-together with nihilistic acceptance of certain doom, making for a film that’s both bleak and dryly funny. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerDec 2, 2021
It’s a slow document of stiff upper lips beginning to quiver, and while Knightley excels as the perfect Kensington upper-crust mummy, it’s Goode who personifies that desperate attempt to keep a veneer of control, even as his world is on the verge of devastation. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 1, 2021
Writer-director Griffin deftly toggles between social/political commentary and the deadpan comedy/horror at hand, as this mostly British group does the stiff-upper-lip, carry-on thing for as long as a possible before things start to unravel in raw and brutal fashion because after all, this is the end. Read full review
68
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonDec 2, 2021
Even with effective individual scenes, Silent Night fails to launch; it sets out to deceive its audience, but only really ends up deceiving itself. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared Mobarak
Griffin has made a comedy, but she pulls no punches. Read full review
67
IndieWireChristian Blauvelt
If Silent Night ultimately aces its peculiar tone, it struggles with having anything to say. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 9, 2021
It’s a hard film to recommend, but it works on its own gutsily perturbing terms. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyDec 3, 2021
Most of Silent Night’s pleasures are to be found in the strength of its cast – Knightley, whose comic talent is frequently underused, can turn on a kind manic perkiness that’s as endearing as it is absolutely terrifying. It’s a smile that says, yes, if I ever were to murder you, they’d never find the body. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 1, 2021
Silent Night is not exactly a satire of well-off and well-connected people as such – everyone is supposed to be basically pretty adorable. But there is something undoubtedly startling and bizarre about seeing the end of the world generically grafted on to this jolly Britcom mode. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerNov 30, 2021
After an unsatisfying start as a comedy, Silent Night finds its feet as an ambitious, thoughtful chamber piece about what it means to peer into the abyss. Merry Christmas, everyone! Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterLovia Gyarkye
This shaky apocalyptic film doesn’t land at times, but its gripping final act, a handful of standout performances and attempts at commentary about class and climate change will probably keep most audiences engaged. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso Duralde
Griffin juggles her many characters well, and she’s very smart about weaponizing the coziness of Christmas movies to make uncomfortable points. Silent Night may wind up being a successful calling card for her (as a director if not as a screenwriter), but for all the beautiful wrapping, it’s mostly an empty box. Read full review
50
VoxAlissa WilkinsonDec 18, 2021
It’s a tonally strange movie from the get-go, masquerading as a typical holiday flick about long-lost friends getting together at the holidays but ending with mass extinction. Yay! Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 3, 2021
This Silent Night doesn’t land its satiric punches cleanly. And in abandoning the “comedy” part of “dark comedy,” it isn’t exactly a place to visit to get happy during a global pandemic. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireDec 3, 2021
Writer/director Camille Griffin’s feature filmmaking debut is an ambitious but muddled mix of Christmas comedy and apocalyptic drama. Read full review
50
The PlaylistMarya E. Gates
Highly ambitious, dark as midnight, and often hilarious, Griffin’s debut film Silent Night doesn’t always work, but her insightful look at the inherent selfishness of humanity and our absurd need to cling to hope no matter what is spot on. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim Grierson
Silent Night works best as a grim chamber piece that subverts the season’s usual good cheer — or, depending on one’s temperament, serves as a tart distillation of the nagging gloom those who hate the holidays often feel. Read full review
50
VarietyGuy Lodge
Distracted for long stretches with ribbons and bows, “Silent Night” never uncovers its harshest possibilities: It’s sober and well-behaved even when the party falls to pieces. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangDec 2, 2021
The thin stereotypes in Silent Night are weirdly uninteresting to observe in this ultimate pressure situation. Read full review
40
The New York TimesConcepción de LeónDec 2, 2021
The characters, despite their histrionic representation of the wealthy class, are not compelling enough to carry the movie, nor are the horrors of the outside world fleshed out enough to frighten. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubJason ShawhanNov 30, 2021
For a film written and nearly finished before the pandemic (with some reshoots in late 2020), Silent Night practically bleats for relevancy. Read full review
25
Slant MagazinePat BrownNov 30, 2021
The film misplaces the root of our current existential dilemma, then covers it with tepid droll comedy and clunky melodrama. Read full review
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