Swiss Army Man
A24 | Release Date: June 24, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
11
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Sep 26, 2016
The premise sounds like an off-Broadway play gone wrong. Far from it — this is extraordinary, vital, and fuelled by great performances. Read full review
90
SlateJeffrey BloomerJun 24, 2016
Hilarious, deranged, and always alive with possibility. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 9, 2016
If I understand the intentions of writer-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film moved me profoundly. I’ll let you come up with your interpretation – or I’ll share mine privately, to avoid spoilers – but it’s a unique look inside a troubled mind. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 30, 2016
Sometimes hilarious, ultimately poignant, Swiss Army Man is a picture like no other. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 24, 2016
The Daniels have made a film that's at once a labor of love and a work of sheer arrogant nerve, one that is as likely to be described as a classic, an ambitious misfire, and one of the worst films ever made by any three people who see it together. How many movies can you say that about? Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnApr 8, 2016
This is pop art by way of lowbrow slapstick, with a premise that suggests "Cast Away" meets "Weekend at Bernie's," but really feels like a lunatic's idea of a big, broad studio comedy — or maybe a mad scientist's. Read full review
80
Total FilmPaul BradshawNov 2, 2016
Juvenile? Weird? Gross? Yes. But also the best flatulence-themed indie-comedy-musical-drama you’ll see this year. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 29, 2016
Both actors, unfazed by the sheer oddity of their task, rise energetically to the occasion. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 23, 2016
Impossible to categorize, this stunningly original mix of the macabre and the magical combines comedy, tragedy, fantasy and love story into an utterly singular package that’s beholden to no rules but its own. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 1, 2016
Swiss Army Man is a quest movie of sorts, and also a sort of modern-day piece of absurdist theater. Samuel Beckett by way of Monty Python, it is a story that is at once rooted in the fixations of adolescence (sex, the idea of sex, bodily functions, more sex) and in the loftier firmaments of the mind. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 30, 2016
You might walk out of Swiss Army Man. You might tire of the flatulence and the erections and the self-conscious whimsy. But if you stick with it, there’s a chance it’ll grow on you as it grew on me — and you’ll be rewarded with maybe the best ending of any movie so far this year. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 30, 2016
If you’ve been looking for a film that puts a daringly surreal spin on “Cast Away,” you’ll be in paradise. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 22, 2016
The easy elevator pitch on Swiss Army Man is that it’s "Cast Away" meets "Weekend At Bernie’s." Weird as that movie may sound, it’s not nearly as weird as the one actually cooked up by “Daniels,” a.k.a. Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the branded directing duo making its feature-length debut. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJun 22, 2016
Even as it invites snarky ridicule, the film dares you to buy into its singular earnestness. Read full review
75
ConsequenceJustin GerberFeb 1, 2016
Frenzied, kinetic filmmaking is hit or miss, but The Daniels are showcasing their talents as opposed to showing off. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 30, 2016
There are obviously a lot of parts here, and they don’t all fit together successfully; the shift in tone toward the end is particularly unsettling. But it’s not for lack of ambition on the part of the Daniels, nor the performances by Dano and Radcliffe. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeFeb 1, 2016
At times deliriously dynamic, at others patience-grating in the extreme, the constantly inventive film fires off ideas that are as exhilarating as anything American audiences will see all year, only to lag in long swells on either side. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 1, 2016
It’s entirely to the directors and the two lead actors’ credit that what sounds like a bunch of overextended body humor gags of the most juvenile variety evolve, by sheer repetitious attrition, into something bizarrely poetic and strangely touching. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 29, 2016
It’s all kind of amusing, and that would be fine but for the fact that the filmmakers offer many openings where they seem to be in search of deeper meaning. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryJun 30, 2016
[The film] isn’t for everyone. But the story is astoundingly original. During the summer months, when theaters are occupied by superheroes and sequels, that’s something worth celebrating. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 28, 2016
Whatever its qualities and shortcomings, Swiss Army Man makes one promise it most certainly keeps. You have never seen anything remotely like it. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartJun 23, 2016
Daniel Radcliffe continues to propel himself further from his Harry Potter past, this time via straight-up flatulence: Swiss Army Man nearly makes up with juvenile glee what it lacks in plot and coherence. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 23, 2016
There are times when this mindbending bromance actually achieves a twisted tenderness. There are also times when you'd like to ride Manny's farts to the nearest exit. It's your call. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 29, 2016
For the most part Swiss Army Man is a visually unique gas and only feels bloated when it tries to hitch its wayward originality to some sort of real world application. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 29, 2016
You might love it or you might hate it, but you won't soon forget it -- and you won't be able to say you've seen a movie quite like Swiss Army Man before. Read full review
60
TheWrapDave WhiteJun 24, 2016
If Swiss Army Man were a silent, scoreless effort, presented as otherworldly slapstick, or if it had employed Lil Jon to yell some obliquely connected, thematic exhortations and non sequiturs, it might have reached the heights of its music video predecessor. As it plays out, though, it smells a little too much like teen spirit. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 1, 2016
Swiss Army Man is a powerfully audacious and wilfully odd odyssey that is too nervy and strangely emotional to dismiss outright but, ultimately, isn’t satisfying enough to provoke a full-throated defence, either. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanFeb 1, 2016
It’s coarse and it’s stupid, but it is, thanks mostly the two good performances and some stylish use of music and editing, a little bit moving. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 23, 2016
A hot, strange mess that never quite comes together the way it should. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RaupFeb 1, 2016
Swiss Army Man is an exceptionally unusual, one-of-a-kind achievement, worthy to seek out for that factor alone. However, if as much time was spent on refining the script as was the world-building, this could have been a magical realism fever dream like few others. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 30, 2016
That the film – part dark comedy and part cinematic dare – is the most unusual sight you’ll encounter at the movies this year is not up for debate. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 29, 2016
This is a buddy movie in which one of the buddies is dead. Yet, if anything, the emotional bonding is — or wants to be — more resonant than ever. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 23, 2016
Even with all the design-rich invention and admirably committed weirdness on display in “Swiss Army Man,” we’re still in the land of immature males, poor-me feelings and superpowers. While the movie focuses on one end of the body, you might be left sighing from the other. Read full review
42
The PlaylistRuss FischerFeb 1, 2016
Swiss Army Man is a big swing — there's no denying the risk in putting two well-known actors in a film where one plays a barely-mobile corpse — but also a big whiff that rarely connects its characters and situations to humor or empathy. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Jun 22, 2016
Swiss Army Man's greatest challenge is to its audience. Just, exactly, how much will we sit still for? Endless scenes of Dano in role-playing drag, sporting a rag-mop wig and giving dating tips to a corpse? Frequent closeups of Radcliffe's furry flatulent buttocks? Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 1, 2016
A ridiculously infantile film, one that flatters itself by intimating a deeper comment about suppressed masculinity or romantic passivity. Read full review
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