The Desperate Hour
Vertical Entertainment | Release Date: February 25, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
10
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzFeb 25, 2022
Once in a while, you see a film where it's clear that everyone involved is operating at the peak of of their skills, yet the whole is so misguided that the result is still awful. Such is The Desperate Hour. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
A case study in how storytelling contrivances can sabotage a courageously vulnerable performance, the movie addresses American parents’ deepest fears but is just one or two steps away from inviting ritualized communal mockery, à la The Room, at midnight screenings. Read full review
25
The Associated PressMark KennedyFeb 24, 2022
As an acting exercise, it’s intriguing — barely any scene partners and all unfolding in real time. As a film, not so much: After a plodding, placid start, it goes from first gear into fifth and never relents as the woes pile on. Read full review
25
The PlaylistMarya E. GatesSep 14, 2021
Philip Noyce is a natural choice for this kind of film. He’s great with actresses in peril and at keeping tension ramped up to eleven. But using the collective trauma of a generation of parents and children as the backdrop for a real-time thriller, whose lives have proven time and again to matter less than the right to own an AK-47, remains unconscionably distasteful. Read full review
25
TheWrapRobert AbeleSep 14, 2021
A crisis scenario striving for issue-driven importance that should have paid more attention to its dull suspense mechanics, slapdash style, and implausibility. Read full review
20
Screen RantSarah Bea MilnerMar 3, 2022
Is The Desperate Hour tedious and dull? Without question, yes. The real issue, however, is that the subject matter is so inappropriate for this kind of story that the entire movie-viewing experience is tinged with a sickening hue. Read full review
16
IndieWireKristen Lopez
[A] maudlin, truly terrible thriller that relies far too heavily on manipulation and narrative revision to deliver a “message” that we don’t need to be spelled out for us. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineDerek SmithFeb 24, 2022
The Desperate Hour’s broad, vague rendering of its characters is part and parcel of its troubling approach to its material. Read full review
10
The New York TimesWesley MorrisFeb 25, 2022
The only thing I want less than a thriller about a school shooting is a thriller whose other main character is the main character’s iPhone. Read full review
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