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The Savages
Metascore
85 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 37 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    The Savages is terrific -- a movie of uncommon appreciation for the nature and nurture that go into making us who we are, a perfectly calibrated drama both compassionate and unsentimental.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    100
    A brutal encounter with mortality told with uncommon humanity, wit and humor.
  3. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    91
    This movie provides no phony catharsis or closure; it develops a vision of people growing in spurts from their most terrible mistakes.
  4. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    90
    It is more sad-funny than funny-funny, but Jenkins has enough empathy and wit to realize that even the sad parts are, somehow, funny.
  5. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    90
    What makes the movie memorable is the precision of its tone, its finely calibrated combination of bitterness and warmth. Of course the acting is tremendous, and you'd expect nothing less.
  6. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    90
    The Savages is a delightful movie--the perfect companion piece (and antidote) to the year's other superb convalescent-dementia picture, "Away From Her."
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    90
    Tamara Jenkins's The Savages, is a beautifully nuanced tragicomedy about two floundering souls.
  8. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    90
    It sounds grimmer than it plays, thanks to Jenkins's sardonic, deadpan humor and the superb cast, who invest these damaged characters with rich, flawed, hilarious humanity. This bittersweet X-ray of American family dynamics may not be a Hallmark-card notion of a holiday movie, but it's one any son or daughter can take to heart.
  9. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    I wouldn't call the film inspirational -- it is too well observed to succumb to easy sentiment -- but its realism is patiently engaging and subtly insinuating. And Linney and Hoffman are extraordinary.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    90
    Jenkins brings a rigor, intelligence and eye for the slightly absurd to the proceedings that is instantly disarming.
  11. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    90
    Bringing a tough, astringent wit to a subject too often wrapped in the cozy blanket of sentimentality or cute humor, Tamara Jenkins takes a frank look at the indignities of aging in The Savages, a black comedy that invites viewers to laugh or at least smile ruefully at the dying of the light.
  12. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    89
    Jenkins' superlative work proves her first film was no fluke; let's hope it doesn't take another nine years to hear from her again.
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    With the help of acting giants, Jenkins turns The Savages into a twisted, bittersweet pleasure.
  14. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Both Linney and Hoffman are so specific in creating these characters that we see them as people, not elements in a plot. Hoffman in particular shows how many disguises he has within his seemingly immutable presence; would you know it is the same actor here and in two other films this season, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" and "Charlie Wilson's War"?
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Jessica Reaves
    88
    A bracingly honest, funny movie about death and family that skillfully sidesteps the usual pitfalls of sentimentality and mawkishness. It's what you might call an awards season miracle.
  16. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    88
    Darkly hilarious.
  17. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    88
    A movie of absurdist humor, brutal realism and dementia.
  18. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    88
    While the film is heart-wrenchingly sad, it also is mordantly funny, uncomfortably prickly and above all, unflinching in its depiction of a believable sibling relationship.
  19. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    88
    Smartly written and beautifully played, The Savages is about that point in life where you look around and realize that where you are is probably as far as you're going to get. In spite of this, the movie's a comedy, dry and humane.
  20. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    88
    I generally resist calling any actor's work "brave" or "fearless" or any such thing, but Bosco's work here made me reconsider that self-imposed ban. It's incredible, harrowing, precise stuff.
  21. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    88
    The Tony-winning Bosco, one of the great stage actors of the last 50 years, does a lot with a little in his restricted role; he's haughty, almost dignified by his angry silence. Linney and Hoffman stay pitch-perfect in their noisy desperation and sullen withdrawal.
  22. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    83
    A darkly funny journey about life ticking by and the change to make wrongs right.
  23. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    83
    The frequent outbursts of comedy help alleviate a tone that's appropriately muted and sad, and Jenkins should be credited for refusing to tack smiley-faces onto a tough, possibly lose-lose situation.
  24. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Jamie Tipps
    80
    The interaction between Hoffman and Linney makes following their characters from their winter of hard experience to a spring of renewed hope well worth the while.
  25. Empire
    Reviewed by: Andrew Male
    80
    A richly nuanced American comedy, with two acting talents working at their absolute peak.
  26. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    80
    The movie is dotted with moments of grace and whacked-out humor that got me on board for this damaged duo's liberation.
  27. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    I can't begin to count the ways in which The Savages pleased me, but the very best of them is the way Tamara Jenkins's comedy stays tough while sneakily turning tender.
  28. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    80
    Vital, honest, and engaging.
  29. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    80
    Disappointment, delusion, dementia, death--did I mention this is a comedy?
  30. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    75
    The Savages is ultimately about two siblings, both around 40, in the midst of learning it's never too late to start embracing life, no matter how rotten a hand you were dealt in the past.
  31. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    The Savages is a TV movie made for the big screen - and it needs the larger venue to accommodate the huge performances of its stars, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney.
  32. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    75
    The right mix of humor and horror and with not even a shred of sentimentality.
  33. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    75
    The Savages is funny in the if-you-didn't-laugh-you'd-cry way and superbly acted by all involved, including the supporting cast of home-care attendants, nurses, hospital administrators, intake personnel and nursing-home staff.
  34. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    These are fascinating, three-dimensional individuals brought into the foreground by a pair of today's finest actors.
  35. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    75
    Suffused with clever lines, characters with neurotic tics and a pervasive, jocular black humour, The Savages is more about craft than art, but the craft, especially in the writing and acting, is at a high level.
  36. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    75
    The film has a dreary, worn quality; much of it is set in winter in Buffalo, N.Y., after all. You know before long that the best you can hope for is that these folks won't kill each other or themselves.
  37. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    75
    As thin and jokey as this movie often is, I prefer it to the serioso treatment that usually encrusts this type of material. At its best, The Savages captures the lunacy that comes with coping with sorrow.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 68 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 34
  3. Negative: 5 out of 34
  1. Scraper
    7
    A dark, bleak look at dealing with an aging parent. Hoffman and Linny do their best with writing so charmless that it actually elevates them, or should I say affirms them at the head of their class in an acting world filled with "movie stars." The moments are more thought-provoking than funny. It's wintertime in Buffalo, NY and there isn't a ray of sunshine or a cookie to be eaten. The deck is seemingly so stacked that you have to laugh at the odds against our hero's tired, yet striving, souls.… Full Review »
  2. jonboy
    2
    Hoffman was his usual fantastic self, and thats about it. Really dull, boring movie, worth it only for the rather witty theatre references. Avoid, unless you want to sleep… Full Review »
  3. MatthewB
    5
    Mediocre, predictable, god-awfully sincere writing almost drowns three fine actors.
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