The Best Offer
IFC Films | Release Date: January 1, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
7
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 16, 2014
Screenwriter/director Tornatore is best known for his nostalgic "Cinema Paradiso," which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1990. But The Best Offer is completely different in style and tone; it’s dark instead of light, a psychological thriller of sorts, only with Virgil’s heart and orderly life in peril instead of his life. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJan 9, 2014
The film has several smart twists and surprises up its well-tailored sleeve. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 5, 2014
Part of the pleasure in watching The Best Offer is the elegant, unassumingly suspenseful way it unfolds. You never quite know where it’s all headed, in part because it never quite tells you what kind of movie it is. I called it a “romantic thriller,” but there’s a lot more movie here than that. Read full review
70
The DissolveAndrew LapinJan 2, 2014
Between its erotic underpinnings and increasingly preposterous third-act reveals, the film could easily pass for middle-grade Hitchcock. Since its premise is that forgeries can still have value, that’s a high compliment. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJan 8, 2014
Rush has a lot of fun with Oldman’s gradual thaw, and the questions the movie raises about authenticity and deception, while not remotely in the same heady league as those in "Certified Copy," nonetheless allow it to conclude on a satisfyingly ambiguous note. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsJan 16, 2014
Tornatore’s ideas about art, trust and intimacy are curious, even if they do not quite click. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithJan 4, 2014
An intriguingly Hitchcockian premise gradually takes on a preposterous air in the art-world noir The Best Offer. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAaron HillisJan 2, 2014
Vertigo this ain’t, but there’s some quasi-Gothic charm in the baroque premise and eccentric marginal details, including a mathematically gifted dwarf. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungDec 23, 2013
Though it begs for a little lightening up, a moment of irony, a wink at the audience, this dead-serious fairy tale about a mysterious young woman (and a phantom automaton straight out of Hugo) is worth watching for Geoffrey Rush’s sensitive, never pandering performance. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianJeff BakerJan 16, 2014
Rush gives everything he has and manages to make Oldman (such an obvious name) into more than an automaton. Not so Sylvia Hoeks, who struggles to make Claire any more alluring than oil dripped on canvas. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldDec 31, 2013
Mr. Rush can’t fly far on Mr. Tornatore’s dialogue and workmanlike plotting, and Sylvia Hoeks, as Claire, doesn’t bring a corresponding energy. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichDec 31, 2013
The fully committed Rush, at least, commands our constant attention, and no movie with a kookier-than-usual Ennio Morricone score (dig those staccato-chanting chorines!) could ever be a total waste of canvas. Read full review
40
The GuardianAndrew PulverDec 23, 2013
Filmed in what you might call the international hotel style, Tornatore's idiotic premise is entertaining if you don't inspect it too carefully, or look for anything beneath the portentousness. Read full review
40
VarietyJay WeissbergDec 23, 2013
Aiming for a Hitchcockian take on an eccentric auctioneer (well-handled by Geoffrey Rush) who becomes enamored of an heiress with severe agoraphobia, the pic ends up more in Dan Brown territory, with over-obvious setups and phony insight into the art establishment. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJan 4, 2014
It's all a bit overheated, and while there is certainly nothing wrong with melodrama, the problem arises when the script (also by Tornatore) keeps insisting on explaining its own symbolism and subtext, to make sure we get how deep the thing is. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineNick McCarthyDec 28, 2013
It ascribes to the falsehood that a rarefied milieu inherently infuses a film with intelligence, as if inept execution can be covered up by pretty lensing. Read full review
25
The PlaylistJessica KiangDec 23, 2013
Strangely old-fashioned in its construction and requiring a Golden Gate-level feat of engineering to achieve the suspension of disbelief necessary to unironically enjoy it. Read full review
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