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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Usual Suspects, The
Gramercy Pictures


9.2

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 51 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for violence and a substantial amount of strong language

Starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, and Chazz Palminteri

Five career criminals in New York are rounded up for a standard police line-up. After release, they get together for a bit of revenge by pulling off a $3 million emerald heist. This scheme brings them to the attention of an underworld crime figure who convinces them to do a highly dangerous job.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Christopher McQuarrie
DIRECTED BY:	Bryan Singer
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 7, 1999 Video: December 7, 1999 Theatrical: August 16, 1995
RUNNING TIME:	106 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Variety Todd McCarthy

The Usual Suspects is an ironic, bang-up thriller about the wages of crime. A terrific cast of exciting actors socks over this absorbingly complicated yarn that's been spun in a seductively slick fashion by director Bryan Singer.

100

San Francisco Examiner G. Allen Johnson

This movie has everything but Humphrey Bogart, and I'm sure he's sorry he was unavailable.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A near-classic blend of mystery, personality, humor and terror, laced with one stunning shock after another. [18 August 1995, Friday, p.C]

Newsweek Jack Kroll

This one's done right. Here's an intelligent movie with no special effects. You have to pay close attention, to listen hard to its cross-fires of dialogue.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A movie with style to burn, and, initially, that is this crime drama's most mesmerizing aspect.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The Usual Suspects filled me with a highly unusual urge - to be a true "reviewer," to rewind the projector and figure out this humdinger once and for all.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Dense, ironic and thoroughly engrossing caper melodrama.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The Usual Suspects is an accomplished synthesis of noir elements and, as such, is an entertaining entry to the genre.

Mr. Showbiz F. X. Feeney

Byrne is a stand-up poet the way some actors are stand-up comics. His innate depth prompts The Usual Suspects to transcend its own cleverness--and this is the movie's smartest, least predictable surprise.

Washington Post Hal Hinson

This thriller is like a game of life-and-death chess, with quick double-crosses and wild gambits.

Film.com Andy Spletzer

I liked this film better the second time around.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Goes straight to cult status without quite touching one important base: the audience's emotions. This movie finally isn't anything move than an intricate feat of gamesmanship, but it's still quite something to see. [16 August 1995, p. C15]

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The Usual Suspects is a maze that moviegoers will be happy to get lost in, a criminal roller coaster with twists so unsettling no choice exists but to hold on and go along for the ride.

Salon.com Michael Sragow

For my money, The Usual Suspects was the pulp fiction of the '90s.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Dense with plot intricacies, thick with atmosphere, and packed with showy roles for a hip ensemble.

Film.com Sean Means

Something quite different: A movie that's smarter than you are.

Film.com Tom Keogh

Snappy heist film that keeps changing the rules of a mystery so that one is never sure whose hands are at the controls.

USA Today Mike Clark

Look out for everything, and listen, too, because Suspects is one of the most densely plotted mysteries in memory.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie's tough-guy dialogue and Bryan Singer's crisp direction give the ensemble cast every opportunity to shine, and they do.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Nothing more than an over-designed lobster pot. After following the beckoning twists and turns, you're left trapped and more than a little disappointed for getting in so deep.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Self-consciously bleak.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

To the degree that you will want to see this movie, it will be because of the surprise, and so I will say no more, except to say that the "solution," when it comes, solves little - unless there is really little to solve, which is also a possibility.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jan C. gave it a10:
Maybe best film ever. Mayber Disneys Snowwhite is better.

Nate M. gave it a10:
I'm not sure why this movie would get lower than a 10? If you are one of those people who think the ending was less than an awesome perhaps you are also one of those people whom can't watch movies without ruining them for everyone else? And as far as what really happened in Verbal Kint's tale to the cops... does it really matter? Kaiser Soze was real. That's all you need to know.

ND gave it a10:
Breathtakingingly superb! One to be watched again and again. As good as anything I have ever seen.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This movie is absolutly amazing, when people say that this movie lacks intelligence they must be the most ignorant people ever because if you actually pay attention during the entire movie and don't miss a beat the ending is the best of any. The plot twist is also better than any other one I have ever seen including The Sixth Sense.

J R. gave it a4:
I'm not sure whats so great about this movie. It really didn't hold my attention for what ever reason and I found the plot pretty bland. It annoyed me as it tried to be intelligent and suprising when I didnt really think it was. Clearly a lot of people liked it so I wish I could see what they saw.There is really nothing I 'did not get' in this mvie and I'm wondering where the layers of depth in the plot are.

Jack C. gave it a10:
One of my favorite movies of all time. Kevin Spacey gives an absolutely brilliant performance.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Brilliant. The music is hauntingly beautiful, the acting supurb and the storyline one that will never be surpassed. A movie you have to see twice and probably will quite never figure out. One of the greatest joys in life is sitting in the same room where someone is watching it for the first time. I could see this flick over and over again, and never tire of it even though I must have seen it fifteen times. Perhaps not the greatest film ever made, but it stands as my number one favorite in the mature audience viewing category.

Usual Suspects, The Gramercy Pictures

Usual Suspects, The
Gramercy Pictures