63
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The Film StageJordan RaupThe Film StageJordan RaupThere are few films that make one rethink the entire genre that came before it, but with their continually surprising, feminist bent approach, the Zellners have succeeded in doing so.
- 83IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnThe downside to the Zellners’ uncompromising approach is that they sometimes hold an inspired moment for too long. Certain scenes drag, and some banter has an airless quality that causes a few gags to fall flat. But it’s often rescued by nuggets of hilarious dialogue...and the steady realization that the movie always has been one step ahead of audience assumptions.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinI was alternately delighted and irritated, though mostly a very happy camper.
- 80Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonThrowing darts at genre conventions while honouring what is eternally mythic about the milieu, this comedy-drama draws off-kilter performances from Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska that subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) reframe archetypes and consistently set us back on our heels.
- 67The A.V. ClubA.A. DowdThe A.V. ClubA.A. DowdWith Damsel, the Zellners have made a kind of artisanal thrift-shop approximation of a Western.
- 60VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanDamsel is a comedy of attitude made with the indulgent touch of an art Western. That’s a refreshingly original thing, though it’s not as blow-you-away cool as the filmmakers seem to think it is.
- 58The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe film’s inherent problems, however, are two fold. First, the third of the picture is an absolute slog. The Zellner’s may have though this was a creative choice to make the comedic scenes funnier when they finally hit, but it simply doesn’t work. Second, the funny bits simply aren’t as funny as they should be.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe writer-directors are so intent on upending expectations and startling the audience that the effort shows far too much and, in the weak second half, ends up being terribly self-conscious.
- 40CineVuePatrick GambleCineVuePatrick GambleAccomplished as the filmmaking is, on a certain level the directors’ good intentions fall flat, resulting in an often clever but fundamentally flimsy comedy.
- 38Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneSlant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneIt's well established by now that the mythic Old West was always a trope written and controlled by men, and that there's really no bottom to which men won't stoop when women are a scarce quantity. In its mad rush toward performative allyship, the film exhausts every possible means of conveying those bombshells.