49
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The DissolveAndrew LapinThe DissolveAndrew LapinBetween its erotic underpinnings and increasingly preposterous third-act reveals, the film could easily pass for middle-grade Hitchcock. Since its premise is that forgeries can still have value, that’s a high compliment.
- 63New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithAn intriguingly Hitchcockian premise gradually takes on a preposterous air in the art-world noir The Best Offer.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThough it begs for a little lightening up, a moment of irony, a wink at the audience, this dead-serious fairy tale about a mysterious young woman (and a phantom automaton straight out of Hugo) is worth watching for Geoffrey Rush’s sensitive, never pandering performance.
- 60Village VoiceAaron HillisVillage VoiceAaron HillisVertigo this ain’t, but there’s some quasi-Gothic charm in the baroque premise and eccentric marginal details, including a mathematically gifted dwarf.
- 40The GuardianAndrew PulverThe GuardianAndrew PulverFilmed in what you might call the international hotel style, Tornatore's idiotic premise is entertaining if you don't inspect it too carefully, or look for anything beneath the portentousness.
- 40VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergAiming for a Hitchcockian take on an eccentric auctioneer (well-handled by Geoffrey Rush) who becomes enamored of an heiress with severe agoraphobia, the pic ends up more in Dan Brown territory, with over-obvious setups and phony insight into the art establishment.
- 40Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThe fully committed Rush, at least, commands our constant attention, and no movie with a kookier-than-usual Ennio Morricone score (dig those staccato-chanting chorines!) could ever be a total waste of canvas.
- 40The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldMr. Rush can’t fly far on Mr. Tornatore’s dialogue and workmanlike plotting, and Sylvia Hoeks, as Claire, doesn’t bring a corresponding energy.
- 25The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangStrangely old-fashioned in its construction and requiring a Golden Gate-level feat of engineering to achieve the suspension of disbelief necessary to unironically enjoy it.
- 25Slant MagazineNick McCarthySlant MagazineNick McCarthyIt ascribes to the falsehood that a rarefied milieu inherently infuses a film with intelligence, as if inept execution can be covered up by pretty lensing.