Rebel in the Rye
IFC Films | Release Date: September 8, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
16
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex ReedSep 15, 2017
Salinger fans never seem to tire of new revelations about the man or his work, so if this is the kind of material that interests you, it should keep you sated until the next one comes along. I recommend it highly. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 14, 2017
With Rebel in the Rye, we get a solid, well-acted and basically standard biopic about the man who created Holden Caulfield, largely in his own image. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSep 14, 2017
Salinger, who died in 2010 at age 91, probably would have hated this movie. If Jones doesn’t quite pull it off, it is at least a film of many pleasures and a thought-provoking look at American literature’s most famous loner. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinSep 7, 2017
The journey of J.D. Salinger from young wiseacre to world-celebrated author and notorious recluse is absorbingly traced in Danny Strong’s Rebel in the Rye. Read full review
67
The Film StageJordan RuimySep 7, 2017
There seems to be something missing; his life was an enigmatic puzzle and Strong hasn’t found all the pieces. It doesn’t help that his visual style is flat and the narrative is conventional enough. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 21, 2017
The script is flat and linear, the dialogue mostly out of tune — utterly lacking crackle. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 14, 2017
The film offers little more depth about the writer than his Wikipedia article and considerably less than one would get from reading the semi-autobiographical The Catcher in the Rye. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 14, 2017
This is a movie that Holden would have skipped. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 7, 2017
Though this telling has more than its share of well-worn story beats that Salinger’s hero Holden Caulfield might accuse of being phoney, there are enough occasional insights into the creative process, as well as juicy tidbits about the secretive Salinger, to make this a very agreeable, if at times shallow, watch. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 7, 2017
Despite the focus on such a fertile period, it suffers from a meandering narrative and a jarring pace, particularly as it pushes on into his later years without bothering to age star Nicholas Hoult in the slightest. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernSep 7, 2017
You won’t find much new light shed on the reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye in writer-director Danny Strong’s polished but cliché-festooned biopic Rebel in the Rye. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshSep 14, 2017
Ultimately, what's revealed in the new biopic of young Salinger, written and directed by Danny Strong, poses some interesting questions, but doesn't live up to the power of the mystery around the man itself. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 14, 2017
Danny Strong’s film, which stars Nicholas Hoult as Salinger...isn’t terrible; it’s just one of those period films that never catches a spark — you find yourself admiring the elegantly lit rooms and the meticulous 1940s costumes, rather than becoming immersed in the drama. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 13, 2017
The movie tries to tell the whole story instead of just a good one. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmSep 8, 2017
The execution is riddled with problems, not the least of which is the absence of Salinger’s actual work. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 7, 2017
Boasting some strong performances and clever writing, this breezy overview of the author and his magnum opus, The Catcher In The Rye, fails to fully capture the magnitude of this brilliant author’s struggle for greatness and then, later, his decision to walk away from literary stardom. Read full review
50
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 7, 2017
Danny Strong’s film is diverting, mildly informative and — to borrow Caulfield’s adjective of choice — somewhat phony, heavy as it is on tortured-writer clichés and contrived art-imitates-life parallels. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 7, 2017
Given the public's undying curiosity about the literary star who rejected fame, it's surprising he hasn't been the subject of more films. Rebel in the Rye shows how hard it is to satisfyingly pull that enigmatic man out of his hiding place. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 8, 2017
Both as a writer and as a man, Salinger was nothing if not unconventional. Rebel in the Rye is so tasteful that it practically slides off the screen. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 7, 2017
The worst aspect of ‘Rebel’ is that Strong seems to have no vision as a filmmaker. The movie thinks it’s throwing in some wise words about the art of writing, but they are superficial at best. Read full review
40
Paste MagazineJacob OllerSep 16, 2017
Salinger’s world doesn’t feel real, but like an amusement park ride taking visitors through the major stops of an author’s legacy, each moment a checkmark before the literary splashdown. It’s almost stubbornly mediocre. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 14, 2017
Rebel in the Rye is Hollywood regular Danny Strong’s feature-film directorial debut, and it fumbles for a voice in tracking the life of a writer renowned for his. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAaron HillisSep 7, 2017
This thanklessly watchable film, recut since its mixed Sundance premiere, may not warrant Holden Caulfield’s trademark judgment of phoniness — but, like any clichéd writing, deserves rejection. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 7, 2017
While Rebel in the Rye isn’t quite as bad as its pile-of-bricks-clunky title suggests, it’s both simple- and literal-minded, less concerned with Salinger’s consciousness or sensibility than with his ostensible ontological status as a Tortured Creative Giant. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Dave McGinnOct 5, 2017
It wants so much to cover everything, and do so in a way that is so laudatory of Salinger's genius and purity that it never really delves into anything interesting or complex. It merely skims. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineCarson LundSep 5, 2017
The whole affair suggests dramatic Tetris, and it leeches the artist and his process of any mystery. Read full review
37
Washington PostPat PaduaSep 14, 2017
Writer-director Danny Strong’s feature debut embodies the very phoniness that the author — and his signature character, Holden Caulfield — railed against. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloSep 5, 2017
Most great-author biopics are just faintly dull and unnecessary. Rebel In The Rye, true to its ridiculous title, is proudly, even aggressively hackneyed. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteSep 13, 2017
It’s really a bit of a bore. Read full review
25
TheWrapRobert AbeleSep 7, 2017
Rebel in the Rye is the most dispiritingly presentational of biopics, on a tight schedule to hit its marks and compartmentalize its subject’s life. Read full review
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