The Day Shall Come
IFC Films | Release Date: September 27, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubWilliam HughesSep 24, 2019
Bitter and bracingly funny new political satire from British dark-comedy master Chris Morris. Read full review
80
EmpireTerri WhiteOct 8, 2019
A hilarious, unexpectedly heartbreaking farce that proves that Chris Morris is still a hugely important voice in telling the stories that we find hardest to hear. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleSep 26, 2019
The result is a kind of rolling theater of racially targeted, manufactured peril that exploits the underprivileged, rewards corruption and ultimately — when the farce plays itself out — isn’t actually funny. But that’s only after it brilliantly is funny, producing plenty of acrid, world-upside-down laughter about the ridiculous truth behind some serious modern delusions about whom we should be scared of. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMar 12, 2019
Morris handles a delicate balancing act with an expected ease, the work of a satirist with so much to say yet with an awareness that saying less leads to so much more. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 12, 2019
The film represents another leap forward for [Morris]. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeMar 12, 2019
A weaponised comedy which concludes with real poignancy. ... The film shares with [Veep] a similarly tart and unvarnished view of the savage, sweary machinations of power and the expendable status of the powerless. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerSep 25, 2019
It's a mix of nonviolent black liberation, mysticism, 1970s psychobabble, and a dedication to Black Santa, all based on God talking to him through a duck (Moses’ delusional mental health issues are dealt with, as is Morris’ way, with both humor and sensitivity). Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 30, 2019
The Day Shall Come is an angry film – funny at times but with an acidic underpinning. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 26, 2019
The jokes, mostly bitter, deadpan asides in a depiction of U.S. anti-terrorist activity as its own form of domestic terrorism, arrive just in time. The pacing’s both swift and, in proud, sour comic tradition, Swiftian. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 25, 2019
Davis flirts with dazzling, at times, all dolled up in a tri-cornered hat, a shower curtain for a cape and a horse to ride into negotiations with. It’s a delightful performance as a deranged character, somebody who has let the proliferation of construction cranes in Miami drive him nuts. Read full review
75
TheWrapMonica CastilloMar 16, 2019
The Day Shall Come is greatest when skewering power and shining a light on grave legal overreach. That we can laugh about it is great, but it’s a sign of our own security, of how unlikely we feel that we would be targeted in the same way. For others, laughing at this movie may not be so easy. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRyan OliverMar 14, 2019
What keeps the film mostly on track is its proudly confrontational nature, quick-witted dialogue, and performances to match. But it’s a dark, sobering film too—the corruption, dishonesty and immoral law enforcement practices employed to screw over expendable brown and black people is depressingly distressing and it’s here where “The Day Shall Come” has trouble sealing the deal on its uncomfortable remit of awkward laughs and somber realities. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnMar 12, 2019
This time, Morris has less command over the edgy material, positioning his modern-day Keystone Cops in a series of smarmy vignettes that don’t cut quite as deep. But it still delivers a scathing and often very funny indictment of homeland insecurities. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievMay 4, 2020
Once attuned, you’ll be rewarded with a sharply funny and oddly heartbreaking, albeit clumsily structured, indictment of our government... Armstrong’s razor-sharp trademark one-liners go a long way in saving this Day. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 29, 2019
The title suggests that the revolution Moses is praying for will someday arrive, but that shouldn’t be nearly as scary to Americans as the fact that his own government is trying to push people like him over the edge. That day is already here. Read full review
67
The Film StageJohn FinkMar 25, 2019
While it aims to generate outrage it does so rather quietly (unlike the recent blunt satirical work of Adam McKay) with a predictable outcome as all rigged games do. The process of getting to that point feels terribly uneven; at times a bit over the top in passages and yet restrained in others as certain transactions are treated as just the cost of doing business in The War on Terror. Read full review
67
ConsequenceRandall ColburnMar 16, 2019
The Day Shall Come remains a riveting watch, though, if only for Morris’ deft, lightning-fast pace and the cast’s mastery of his language. ... The problem is that the film’s humanity is often eclipsed by its big-picture message and satirical edge. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflySep 27, 2019
The results are mixed cinematically — crisply lensed by Marcel Zyskind, the Florida-set film looks like an average episode of “Veep,” which Morris has directing credits on. And the laughs are pretty sparse, too, despite a non-stop flow of zingers. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 11, 2019
It’s a diverting scenario, though maybe it doesn’t quite have the “danger – high voltage” thrill of Morris’s other works. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 26, 2019
A circular firing-squad of full-on crazy, Chris Morris’s The Day Shall Come barges into American counterterrorism tactics with sledgehammer satire and a numbingly repetitive plot. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeSep 25, 2019
The film is an aimless, albeit sometimes funny, chronicle of absurd behavior and government ineptitude. Read full review
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