Dog Eat Dog
RLJ Entertainment | Release Date: November 4, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 21, 2016
The film positively swills in its disreputability and all-around low-budgetness; sporting a healthy disregard for respectability, Schrader has just gone for it here with a highly focused recklessness that he turns to his creative advantage. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 21, 2016
It’s terrifically watchable, a high-octane automobile of a film with dodgy steering, but exciting in a world of dull and prissy hybrids. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 10, 2016
Dog Eat Dog occasionally positions itself as social commentary, but it’s mainly a bloody, trippy, bare-fanged pulp thriller featuring terrifically entertaining performances from old dogs Cage and Dafoe. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 4, 2016
With the bawdy and intoxicatingly batshit Dog Eat Dog, Schrader is off the leash once and for all. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinNov 7, 2016
Although it’s an often repellant, uneven film that, in the end, doesn’t amount to a whole lot, there’s something thrilling and a bit liberating about the anarchic vibe that permeates this stylized walk on the wild side. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyNov 2, 2016
An exercise in gratuitousness that’s fitful by design, Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog avoids any relationship between character psychology and visual style; they jab against each other, angrily vying for attention, as a nihilistic commentary on crime movies and genre stories. Read full review
67
The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaMay 24, 2016
Lacking the earlier stylistic exuberance, Dog Eat Dog loses all momentum, taking forever to come to a conclusion both foregone and deeply dissatisfying. Read full review
60
EmpireHamish MacbainNov 14, 2016
Hackneyed and somewhat dated Tarantino-isms abound. But for the committed fan of such things, there is more than enough to enjoy here: not least an entertainingly unhinged performance from Willem Defoe. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsNov 4, 2016
Dog Eat Dog may be successfully alienating, but that doesn't mean it's entertaining, thoughtful or even successfully provocative. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoNov 3, 2016
Dog Eat Dog is all bark and no bite, playing around in a sandbox of vulgarity with little rhyme or reason. Read full review
50
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyMay 21, 2016
One thing that can be said about brazen crime comedy Dog Eat Dog is that it’s a full-blooded venture in every respect, with Schrader and his leads Cage and Willem Dafoe clearly enjoying the gore-soaked frenzy. But the film also feels like a too- familiar reheating of in-your-face Tarantino-style crime tropes. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 22, 2016
Even within Schrader’s own back catalogue, Dog Eat Dog feels like a lukewarm retread of elements he has achieved, as a writer and director, much better before. It’s just that here they’re mashed together gracelessly, with a kind of bullying undercurrent, as though designed to get a rise out of you, just so it can deliver two for flinching. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyNov 23, 2016
There’s half an argument that this schlocky lowlife caper energises its director’s visual imagination more than we’ve seen lately – hey, at least he’s trying something – but it’s not a juggling feat he can keep up all day. Read full review
40
TheWrapRobert AbeleNov 4, 2016
There are times you even wonder if Cage and Dafoe should have switched roles. But the true identity swap tragedy is within Schrader, the filmmaker having substituted his trademarked thoughtful approach to unacceptable men with a cheaper, imitative brand of cartoony bleakness. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyNov 3, 2016
Dog Eat Dog is a movie that wants everyone off its lawn, but only after they’ve had time to appreciate that said lawn is way more nihilistic than their own. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 21, 2016
That’s not to say Dog Eat Dog is bereft of interesting choices. Far from it, though its infrequent bursts of gonzo brilliance are all in service of such an uninteresting premise. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoOct 28, 2016
Paul Schrader's film scrambles for contemporary relevance and finds only nihilistic hollowness. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 18, 2016
Cage and Dafoe never give less than their best, Cook is not bad, though the women aren’t allowed to make any impression at all, and Schrader’s acting just makes one wish he’d called in a favor and gotten a real actor to be The Greek. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsDan GundermanNov 3, 2016
Movie fans might be better off watching a dog actually munch on another dog. Paul Schrader's latest action drama is downright awful. Read full review
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