The Best and Worst Films at SXSW 2017
The 2017 edition of South by Southwest wrapped up its film program last night, and the 10 days of premieres produced some welcome hits (with five films scoring 81 or higher) as well as some surprising misses.
Below, our editors have picked out the most notable films debuting at the festival, and sampled the critical consensus for each one. You can also find bonus reviews for a handful of television shows that premiered at SXSW (though not the highly anticipated upcoming series American Gods, since Starz has embargoed reviews until April 17th).
Netflix debuted several of its upcoming original films at the festival, and this was by far the worst of the bunch—and possibly the worst film to premiere at this year's SXSW.
Critics certainly were not impressed with Tommy O'Haver’s biopic about the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, founder of American Atheists. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich believes “seldom has a biopic done so little with so much,” including a strong cast that features Melissa Leo in the lead, as well as Josh Lucas, Adam Scott, Vincent Kartheiser, and Juno Temple. Peter Debruge of Variety is a touch more positive, but even he finds the film only “slightly better than your average TV movie, while not as good as your typical theatrical release.”
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