Deadline
Metascore
25 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 6 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 4 out of 6
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Apr 11, 2012
    50
    The plot, in short, is underwhelming. It merely follows the reporters as the screenplay serves them the solution to their case on a silver platter. Yet curiously, Deadline flows right along.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Apr 11, 2012
    40
    Although helmer Curt Hahn champions the causes of racial justice and crusading journalism, he can't seem to find a tone that's consistent or that befits the gravity of his subject matter.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    Apr 13, 2012
    30
    Plodding, predictable, amateurishly staged and with wild swings in acting quality - sometimes within the same person (Roberts) - this is the kind of well-meaning, homemade concoction hopelessly enamored of the kind of clichéd potboilers that don't get made anymore. And with good reason.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Apr 12, 2012
    30
    Without Mr. Roberts and his grinning insouciance, this well-meaning mess would have no heartbeat at all.
  5. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Ed Gonzalez
    Apr 9, 2012
    25
    By the end of it, you'll be crying uncle--or wish you were watching The Help instead. At least that was a more artful lie.
  6. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    Apr 10, 2012
    10
    The fact that real-life deadly racial animus in America is often cartoonish in its manifestation doesn't excuse Deadline's cliché-ridden characterizations of bigotry. Worse, the film has no pulse and no dramatic tension, despite its subject matter. It's a slog to get to its big revelations.

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User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Caroline3
    10
    Deadline is my kind of movie, a heartfelt story that moved me to tears on several occasions. By the end, I was so thankful that I'd seen Deadline because it gave me hope for the future.

    Deadline tells the story of two investigative reporters, played by odd-couple Eric Roberts and Steve Talley, who get turned on to a cold case civil rights murder. Based on a true story, it has elements that are reminiscent of Ghosts of Mississippi and Mississippi Burning, but ultimately Deadline reminded me most of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a story of race in the South and manages to show both how far we've come and how far we still have to go as a nation.

    Rather than dwell on the actual murder, Deadline focuses on the human toll of such crimes. The mother and the girlfriend of the slain black teenager are both permanently scarred by his murder, and that's not all of their pain. The entire town has never recovered from the murder. In some ways, Deadline is similar to the current Trayvon Martin case, or the recent murders in Tulsa, giving it a timeliness that is almost surreal. But then I guess that's the point, since such things do seem to happen with distressing regularity. By the end of Deadline, I felt that such crimes may not have to always be part of our national ethos, that there is indeed hope that we can evolve as a people, that we may one day not have to seek justice, but simply be just in the first place.    … Full Review »
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