Sympathy for the Devil
Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) | Release Date: July 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonJul 28, 2023
Cage may hate that people quote his over-the-top moments out of context, but since this entire movie is one, you can’t really take any of it the wrong way. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBobby LePireJul 24, 2023
Cage and Kinnaman work well together, with the former being gloriously over-the-top and the latter keeping things grounded in a form of reality. All in all, this thriller works from beginning to end. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 25, 2023
Sympathy for the Devil does the two things that every good Nicolas Cage movie must do: It gives him license to be manic, but it also gives him a realistic context in which his mania can delight and surprise. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 24, 2023
Cage is having the time of his life playing the role––flippant, unhinged, oozing the confidence of a man with nothing to lose. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerJul 24, 2023
Cage chews up every scene he’s in and seems to be having a blast — he’s always over-the-top and never boring to watch, in a film that delivers the goods for those who like him best when he’s just about lost his mind. Read full review
70
IGNKatie RifeJul 24, 2023
Nicolas Cage’s live-wire performance fuels a compelling, if predictable, crime thriller. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJul 26, 2023
It's mean, gritty, and brutally nihilist, its mystery unwrapping before it strangles you with its perfect meanness. If noir is about, as the old saying goes, bad people doing bad things for good reasons, then Sympathy for the Devil bleeds in all the right ways. Read full review
67
ColliderMarco Vito OddoJul 24, 2023
Sympathy for the Devil should be thankful for Cage and Kinnaman's brilliant dynamics as, without them, the movie would be nothing more than a bland thriller. Read full review
60
The GuardianLeslie FelperinSep 6, 2023
If you were programming a season of the best of the worst from Nicolas Cage’s filmography – in other words, his most interesting/outlandish/crazed performances in low-budget films – this kooky thriller would certainly be a good candidate. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJul 24, 2023
Director Yuval Adler taps into the lean story’s Collateral-like intrigue but, outside of Cage’s hair-trigger antics, there is not much surprise here — especially when the filmmaker unveils a twist most will see coming down the road. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis HarveyJul 24, 2023
The tension that should fire up this joint throughout never quite catches hold, because there are never any tangible stakes. These characters and their crisis remain just a premise, too incompletely worked out to either generate urgent suspense or enter the realm of surreal fantasia as Cage did in a long-ago road nightmare, “Wild at Heart.” Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJul 24, 2023
You can drop Nic Cage in your dull movie all you want, but when you do, you're only getting a memorable Cage performance in an otherwise unmemorable story. I love to watch Cage work. I just wish I didn't have to watch him work under these conditions. Read full review
50
ObserverCasey Epstein-GrossJul 24, 2023
The entertaining surrealism that energized the opening movements fizzles out as the film reaches the third act, the reveals of which are both mundane and expected. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeJul 24, 2023
With copious scenes of Nicolas Cage going buck wild, it can hardly be faulted for failing to give audiences what they want. Read full review
42
The PlaylistBrian FarvourAug 1, 2023
It’s hard to say if this is worth a view, as die-hard Cage fans might not see anything necessarily new, nor does the overall arc of the plotline break any new ground other than to offer a platform for Cage to again roll out his usual bag of acting tricks. Read full review
40
Screen RantAlex HarrisonJul 27, 2023
Sympathy for the Devil is a missed opportunity with a collection of engaging moments, none sustained enough to really satisfy. Read full review
40
Paste MagazineElijah GonzalezJul 27, 2023
While most of the story takes place in a constrained setting and it wastes no time in introducing us to the dangers of being trapped in a metal box with a delirious Nicolas Cage performance, Sympathy for the Devil’s inability to paint its characters in anything but the broadest strokes makes it difficult to see past the artifice of it all, dulling its attempts at dangling these people’s fates over the precipice. Read full review
12
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJul 28, 2023
I’m really not trying to make a cute play on words by calling Sympathy for the Devil godawful. Read full review
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