The Son of No One
Anchor Bay Entertainment | Release Date: November 4, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
10
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundOct 31, 2011
The Son of No One is driven by mood and atmosphere to the extent that the stakes-free story and interest-free characters seem almost incidental, and such is surely the movie's saving grace -- a perverse style that overshadows a severe lack of substance. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonNov 1, 2011
Tatum is touching as the stressed, decent provider trying to make something bad from his past not destroy his future. Yet the real surprise is Tracy Morgan, in a small but transformative role as the heavily medicated adult incarnation of Jonathan's childhood friend. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnNov 4, 2011
Neither goofy enough for camp status nor lackluster enough for extreme derision, Son of No One is just mediocre enough to be an easy target. Read full review
50
MovielineStephanie ZacharekNov 3, 2011
Even if there were a compelling narrative here to begin with, Montiel's excessive technique would throw you right out of it. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 2, 2011
It's kind of fun to watch Pacino and Liotta and Tatum and James Ransone, as Jonathan's foulmouthed partner, as they roar at each other and suck the marrow from the hambone. You can see why actors want to work with Montiel, but actors are notoriously bad judges of whether good scenes will ever add up to a worthwhile movie, which is exactly the problem here. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 2, 2011
Here's a bad movie with hardly a bad scene. How can that be? The construction doesn't flow. The story doesn't engage. The insistent flashbacks are distracting. The plot has problems it sidesteps. Yet here is a gifted cast doing what it's asked to do. The failure is in the writing and editing. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 1, 2011
Performances are strong across the board, and the movie offers a solid sense of place. But the mysteries, once explained, don't make a lot of sense. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 6, 2011
Muddled cop thriller The Son of No One has a top-drawer cast and a bottom-drawer script. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasNov 2, 2011
A few individual performances survive - Liotta finds a little of his old edge, and Pacino briefly revisits Serpico territory - but they're smothered in the slow-burning absurdity. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanNov 2, 2011
The more that secret comes out, the more incoherent (and ludicrous) the film gets. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsNov 7, 2011
Filled with competent but unexciting performances and, like its protagonist, is strangely lugubrious. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 3, 2011
This heavy-handed muddle of a cop thriller is just impossibly bad. Read full review
38
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreNov 1, 2011
It's all very messy and entirely too obvious at the same time. Montiel makes the most of his settings, but the story keeps staggering into dead ends. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 3, 2011
The Son of No One self-destructs in a ludicrous, ineptly directed anticlimactic rooftop showdown in which bodies pile up, and nothing makes a shred of sense. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonNov 3, 2011
Despite all the nervous tension, the central drama is flawed - Jonathan isn't trying to find a killer. He is the killer. Something is lacking in the dramatic equation. Read full review
30
VarietyRob NelsonNov 1, 2011
In this case, Montiel's awkward appropriation of gritty crime-drama conventions results in a film that's contrived and implausible, at times absurdly so. Read full review
25
New York PostLou LumenickNov 4, 2011
Ineptly written and directed, the nihilistic The Son of No One flaunts an attitude best summed up by a cynical Pacino -- "A man has to live with s--t.'' Maybe so, Al, but audiences have the option of skipping this bomb. Read full review
20
Time OutKeith UhlichNov 1, 2011
By the time The Son of No One reaches its wanna-be-tragic finale, you'd like nothing more than to kick this bastard child to the curb. Read full review
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