This Must Be the Place
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: November 2, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
9
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenNov 1, 2012
If the movie doesn't entirely get past its hard-to-buy premise, director Paolo Sorrentino does have the courage of his convictions, not just embracing every contradiction but spinning many of the story's contrivances into moments of strange, aching beauty. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichOct 31, 2012
The film's numerous idiosyncrasies - virtues at the outset - ultimately suffocate it. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondOct 27, 2012
With a sure-to-be-talked about performance by Sean Penn and the dueling themes of overcoming depression and revenge against Nazi atrocities, This Must Be The Place is anywhere BUT the place for moviegoers who aren't in the mood for something different. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoOct 27, 2012
Determinedly quirky and cool, arresting and ultimately too baffling to be satisfying, although Penn is priceless. Cultdom beckons. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 27, 2012
The Holocaust material was not entirely successful, though certainly transmitted with absolute certainty and sincerity. This Must Be the Place is not my favourite of Sorrentino's films, but it certainly deserved inclusion at Cannes, and deserves to be watched for the glorious Byrne moments alone. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyOct 27, 2012
Eccentric, misguided and occasionally charming and sweet, this curiosity item with Sean Penn in one of his nuttier performances is unlikely to be embraced critically or commercially. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 2, 2012
Sean Penn is one of those actors, like Nicolas Cage, who is best (sometimes worst) when he's over-the-top. Unlike Cage, Penn doesn't pour himself into dreadful commercial vehicles. No, his dreadful movies are usually not destined for the multiplex. Case in point: This Must Be the Place. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJames RocchiNov 1, 2012
Sorrentino's very title suggests someone who doesn't have the most well-defined sense of where they ultimately want to wind up; as goes the Talking Heads song, so goes the movie. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 11, 2013
There's no "place" in this place, no clear destination -- and no real payoff in a film that stands a cinematic curiosity but little more. Read full review
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