Stillwater

Name: Stillwater
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: July 30, 2021
Duration: 140 min
Rating: 60
Cast: Abigail Breslin, April Warren, Camille Cottin, David C Tam, Deanna Dunagan

2021

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 77 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 77 Ratings

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Stillwater

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: July 30, 2021 | R

Starring: Abigail Breslin, April Warren, Camille Cottin, David C Tam, Deanna Dunagan, Eric Starkey, Erin Herring, Gary Sievers, Ginifer Ree, Justin France, Kyle Jacob Henry, Lilou Siauvaud, Lisandro Boccacci, Matt Damon, Moussa Maaskri, Robert Peters, Ryan Music

Summary: Bill (Matt Damon), an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal missionBill (Matt Damon), an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.… Expand

Director: Thomas McCarthy

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 140 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

Jul 20, 2021

Audiences will come away feeling like they’ve really been somewhere, that they were moved by the people they met and expanded by the experience. You can’t ask more from a movie. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Jul 9, 2021

The movie’s more interesting for being less obvious. Read full review

The Film Stage Jake Kring-Schreifels

Jul 28, 2021

Is it possible to stand out and disappear at the same time? Matt Damon makes a convincing case study in Stillwater. Read full review

Mark Feeney

Jul 29, 2021

The quality of the acting makes it easy to overlook how increasingly leaden Stillwater becomes — but not easy enough. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Jul 29, 2021

The story becomes unpleasantly bitter and asks us to buy certain behaviors that don’t make much sense, and that we’re not quite sure a character would be capable of. Yet even after the movie makes that sharp zigzag, its one constant is Damon, who’s turning out to be one of those great, casual American actors we didn’t know we had anymore. Read full review

Liam Lacey

Jul 29, 2021

The trouble is not that the movie is exploitative but that it’s out of its depth. This tone-jumping jigsaw of a narrative (written by McCarthy and Marchus Hinchey along French screenwriters Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré) amounts to several movies in one. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jul 9, 2021

This is one to forget: a muddled, tonally misjudged, badly acted, uncertainly directed and frankly dubious drama, something that falls into the so-bad-it’s-bad bracket. Read full review

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User Reviews

CoopCooper

Aug 6, 2021

I fully enjoyed this film. I saw it in a real movie theater, not on my couch [where I have been viewing many films over the past year due to the pandemic]. It was engaging and engulfing from the get go. Some of us prefer a slowly developing format with twists and turns. The actingI fully enjoyed this film. I saw it in a real movie theater, not on my couch [where I have been viewing many films over the past year due to the pandemic]. It was engaging and engulfing from the get go. Some of us prefer a slowly developing format with twists and turns. The acting performances were stellar. From reading other reviews, it appears people do not have patience for a story to unfold at its own pace, and prefer fast action and violence. It is loosely based on a true story, but does not present itself as art imitating life. It was refreshing to see a good drama on the big screen.… Expand

7 of 8 users found this helpful71

Qgal5kap

Sep 11, 2021

Well worth the 9/10 I gave it. Gripping and emotionally heavy. In a good way.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

hhf2

Sep 10, 2021

Feels real. Sometimes too real. It's a movie that left me wishing it would take a left turn into a Hollywood cliché to make everything alright. It refuses and ends up being a slice of life on film. Someone wrote that it feels like you spend real time with real people going through someFeels real. Sometimes too real. It's a movie that left me wishing it would take a left turn into a Hollywood cliché to make everything alright. It refuses and ends up being a slice of life on film. Someone wrote that it feels like you spend real time with real people going through some really tough sh*t. I couldn't agree more. I liked spending that time with these people.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

davemelbourne58

Aug 2, 2021

The first 2/3rds of this movie are really good, and well written. I found myself sympathasizing w/Matt Damons character. And I liked how well written his daughters character possibly wrongly stuck in prison. I even liked the single Mom and wise beyond her years daughter and how theyThe first 2/3rds of this movie are really good, and well written. I found myself sympathasizing w/Matt Damons character. And I liked how well written his daughters character possibly wrongly stuck in prison. I even liked the single Mom and wise beyond her years daughter and how they basaically adopted this stranger in a strange land. But then in the last act? Matt Damons character loses his mind, and the movie goes off the rails. I liked 2/3rd of it, but the last half hour or so really disappointed me and didn't fit the rest of the movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mauro_Lanari

Dec 8, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. (Mauro Lanari)
The relevance of this latest film by Tom McCarthy does not lie in its comparative comparison between the two transoceanic cultures: despite an exhausting and devoid of sobriety style, it opposes the drift of Hollywood and the Damon of "The Last Duel" towards the quicksand of the political correctness: the lesbian daughter is a murderer and at the moment it is the bravest twist that today's cinema can and must afford.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

robin006

Aug 21, 2021

1. Stillwater reminds me of The Edge of Heaven(2007).They seem to have extended the final third of The Edge of Heaven for 140 minutes!
2. In Stillwater there are two presuppositions of the story. The first half of the film is about one of them and the second half is about the other. This1. Stillwater reminds me of The Edge of Heaven(2007).They seem to have extended the final third of The Edge of Heaven for 140 minutes!
2. In Stillwater there are two presuppositions of the story. The first half of the film is about one of them and the second half is about the other. This makes the ending of the film emotionally confusing. "Savior Father" and "Man in a New Life" could have overlapped, but now the film is fragmented.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MooT10

Aug 13, 2021

is just so so bad not worth any scrap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

0 of 6 users found this helpful06

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