55
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaArizona RepublicRandy CordovaFreeland does a fine job, waiting for her characters to converge in a way that doesn't feel overly forced, though there is a bit of that "Crash" tidiness in how things fall together. Still, the film is moving and human.
- 75TheWrapInkoo KangTheWrapInkoo KangDrunktown’s Finest shouldn’t be viewed simply as an anthropological curiosity, though, but as the promising debut of a gifted filmmaker who wants to show the beating and hurting hearts of the people behind the headlines.
- 60The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe screenplay tracing the characters’ struggles has a tidy, workshopped feel, and the dialogue and acting can be gratingly flat. But what gives the film a certain confidence is its cultural specificity and the fresh clashes and contrasts it presents.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeWhile Freeland's plotting is graceful, there are occasional moments of stiffness in the dialogue itself, brief rough patches her largely neophyte cast can't fix in the delivery.
- 50VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireUnfortunately, Drunktown’s Finest too often suffers from stilted performances and scripting.
- Drunktown’s Finest oscillates between servicing banal plot machinations and the beautiful, symbolic simplicity of the culture it’s representing.
- 50RogerEbert.comRogerEbert.comDrunktown's Finest shows a filmmaker struggling to find her voice. It's a whisper here, but we can hear it.
- 50Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiLos Angeles TimesMartin TsaiUnfortunately, each main character serves as an avatar emblematic of a societal symptom instead of a real person in whose shoes we can stand. As a result, their trajectories are didactic and predictable.