The Spoils Before Dying
IFC | Release Date: July 8, 2015
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubDennis PerkinsJul 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Spoils Before Dying is almost too well-made at times. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJul 7, 2015
Season 1 Review: Gleefully absurd and filled with terrific comic performances--Wiig and Rudolph are stand-outs in the first two episodes--The Spoils Before Dying marks another winning offbeat comedy from IFC. Read full review
75
IndieWireBen TraversJul 9, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Spoils Before Dying is a huge step up, arguably even better than its predecessor, but it could have shed some of the weight and become truly great. Read full review
75
NewsdayVerne GayJul 6, 2015
Season 1 Review: As genre satire, Spoils is amusing. As film study, it's informative. As a viewing experience? Uneven: Sometimes funny, a little more often not. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandJul 1, 2015
Season 1 Review: Spoils Before Dying is funnier than “Babylon.” The earlier miniseries spoofed ’40s melodramas, but this year’s model takes a narrower approach, mining the staples of the even more formulaic noir films, capturing the excesses of the hard-boiled dialogue and pushing them just far enough over the edge to knock you out of your chair. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJul 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: It is in some respects a three-hour sketch, but one made with attention to detail and an effective emotional through-line. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Spoils Before Dying, which lampoons Hollywood's classic films noirs of the 1940s and 1950s, is a much more assured and accomplished piece of filmmaking. But it's not nearly as wonderfully original or manic as its predecessor. Read full review
70
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJul 7, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Spoils Before Dying fluctuates wildly from very clever to somewhat exhausting, but it gets better as it goes along, or perhaps I just got accustomed to its unique sense of humor. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithJul 6, 2015
Season 1 Review: Even when it drags a tad early on, there is always something good coming down the pike. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJul 7, 2015
Season 1 Review: The Spoils Before Dying requires some time and in return offers some rewards. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJul 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: Spoils takes its murder mystery too seriously. While this isn’t as dour an affair as Ferrell and Wiig’s recent Lifetime debacle, “A Deadly Adoption,” a little bit more nuttiness would make this mini more a treat and not so much an endurance challenge. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian LowryJul 7, 2015
Season 1 Review: There are, admittedly, some funny bits strewn throughout--Michael Sheen delivers one of the better moments--but even at a little over two hours of actual screen time minus commercials, this feels as padded as Ferrell’s well-stuffed wardrobe. Read full review
40
The WrapMark PeikertJul 8, 2015
Season 1 Review: Most characters are reduced to a single joke repeated endlessly, under the assumption that the repetition of words or phrases constitutes comedy. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichJul 7, 2015
Season 1 Review: Despite the occasional laughs, though, this is still a one-note premise stretched excruciatingly thin. Read full review
40
Reason.comGlenn GarvinJul 4, 2015
Season 1 Review: This three-hour miniseries from Will Farrell and some of his Saturday Night Live buddies is a send-up of 1950s film-noir that more closely resembles another classic Hollywood product: an overinflated boob job. Read full review
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