The Square
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: October 27, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 26, 2017
The Square is ultimately a long version of Christian’s rambling apology, ostentatiously smart, maybe too much so for its own good, but ultimately complacent, craven and clueless. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 25, 2017
Ostlund, at his best, is a heady and enthralling filmmaker, but unfortunately, he has so much on his mind that he is also, at his weakest, a shapeless and didactic one. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 25, 2017
There is much to enjoy here - especially at the beginning - and Östlund's ambition and vision are to be applauded. However, The Square would have been greatly improved had the director taken his scalpel and his demanding critical eye and applied it to the film itself. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnMay 25, 2017
The director excels at generating a nervous energy around his character’s mounting desperation, and the movie’s intermittently engaging for that reason alone. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 3, 2017
The Square turns from a sharp art-world satire into something egregiously bonkers, a collision of blunt comic beats and heavy-handed social commentary that's more messy than profound. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 1, 2017
The Square may be one of the most timely films of this season, but it squanders its own relevancy by shooting fish in the world’s most shallow, painfully obvious barrel. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineCarson LundSep 28, 2017
While Ruben Östlund’s mastery of visually amplifying social unease is still very much intact, he’s partially undone here by his own thematic ambition, which, in scene after exquisitely staged scene, threatens to put too fine a point on otherwise thrillingly indeterminate situational comedy. Read full review
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