The Perfect Host
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 1, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
8
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJun 26, 2011
Tomnay skillfully shifts the film's initial tone from suspense to dark comedy so that the transition never feels forced. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyJun 26, 2011
Just when the picture seems to be settling into torture porn, it begins pulling a series of clever twists -- although they lose some punch when you realize the script depends on one whopping coincidence. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJun 30, 2011
It's best enjoyed as a crackling performance piece. Read full review
65
MovielineMichelle OrangeJun 30, 2011
You'll have to hang on to something to get through the hairpins in The Perfect Host, a chamber piece hostage thriller black comedy undone less by its twists than by the stretches of bad road between them. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 30, 2011
The dialogue is witty and spiked with delicious malice. At least it is when Pierce delivers it. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 1, 2011
Some of the shocks are way too broad, and the enclosed perspective suggests the material would better suit a play. But Crawford radiates charisma, and Pierce sells even the nuttiest moments. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJun 29, 2011
For a while, the movie has a cat-and-mouse appeal - it's like "Hard Candy" crossed with a smaller-scale "Deathtrap." Pierce acts with an enjoyably testy flamboyance, but by the time he starts to imagine that his guests have arrived even though dinner's been canceled, the film has given him one loose screw too many. Read full review
50
New York PostV.A. MusettoJul 1, 2011
Ultimately breaks down under the weight of too many characters and unbelievable twists. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 30, 2011
What aims for Hitchcockian slyness ends up an inconsequential jumble in the comedy thriller The Perfect Host. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnJun 30, 2011
The innumerable change-ups in The Perfect Host only pretend to take the plot in new directions. In reality, each new twist is perfectly derivative, which leads to a host of problems. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineMark KeizerJun 26, 2011
Pierce delivers everything the role requires except serious menace, while the less-seasoned Crawford improves as his handsome face bares more of the evening's scars. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 28, 2011
Writer-director Nick Tomnay needlessly convolutes what should have been a taut, focused two-hander with flashbacks, alternate realities and too-clever-by-half reversals. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonJun 28, 2011
First-timer Nick Tomnay has expanded his movie from a short, and the point where he ran out of ideas looms like a cliff edge. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJun 27, 2011
Although it fancies itself as rigidly complex as a well-played chess match, Nick Tomnay's The Perfect Host is really a game without any rules, one where characters and situations exist in total thrall of the next shocking twist. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 30, 2011
Like Warwick himself, the movie begins to run amok after a taut and tantalizing first act. Not even Mr. Hyde Pierce's best efforts can make sense of a character who by the end of the film seems to be a completely different person with the same name. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJun 26, 2011
This is bargain-basement moviemaking, and looks it. Here's wishing Mr. Pierce a vigorous movie career, and better luck next time. Read full review
More From This Movie

48 Critic Reviews

6.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL