Slow Burn
Lionsgate | Release Date: April 13, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
6
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Beach blends all the performing styles smoothly: LL's blithe coolness, Blalock's sultry ambiguity, Liotta's slow-boiling intensity, Ejiofor's dapper amiability, Phifer's brooding intensity. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyScott Brown
A strange, sprained, but sprightly fusion of "The Usual Suspects" and the "Tragic Mulatto," Slow Burn wants badly to turn its standard neo-noir into a nuanced racial chiaroscuro. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
No one and nothing can be taken at face value in Beach's twisty tale of secrets and lies, which buries its very interesting idea in a welter of ludicrous dialogue and skin-flick imagery. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
What results are surprises without sustenance. Read full review
40
VarietyEddie Cockrell
What begins as a moderately interesting set of interconnected mysteries involving race and identity soon grows eye-rollingly laborious, not to mention increasingly derivative of Christopher McQuarrie's "Usual Suspects" script. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyLuke Y. Thompson
Yep, it’s Keyser Soze time. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
The sort of cheesy thriller that would prove mildly diverting on late-night cable, Slow Burn at least features a terrific cast to enliven its familiar elements. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
An amusingly preposterous last act keeps you guessing, or maybe keeps you ducking, as it lets rip an avalanche of startling revelations and double-crosses. Nothing is what it seems - unless it seems cheesy. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMichelle Kung
A veritable rip-off of 1995's "The Usual Suspects," Beach's crime caper not-so-subtly apes Bryan Singer's use of multiple red herrings and flashback-heavy interrogation scenes, but lacks the stylistic flair and sophisticated narrative skills to pull off a similar feat of cinematic intrigue. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMark Olsen
Beach's storytelling tactics, much like the film as a whole, would simply be annoying if they weren't also borderline insulting. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Shelved for over a year, this incompetent mystery thriller stops periodically so some character or other can deliver an expository speech and pull the plot back on track, but by the end the story has turned into a hair ball. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
For all it does right, there's something seriously wrong. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A wooden police thriller that is as dull as it is impenetrable and ultimately beyond ludicrous. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
The cast, particularly Liotta, walk around with befuddled expressions on their faces, perhaps wondering what on earth they’re doing in this movie and how they can find a new agent ASAP. Read full review
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