The Black Dahlia
Universal Pictures | Release Date: September 15, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critics
Positive:
9
Mixed:
21
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Hartnett and co-star Scarlett Johansson--that most fatale of current filmic femmes--are naturals for this kind of noir-hued material, but the pairing of Ellroy and De Palma proves a marriage made in hardboiled heaven. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
There are some virtuoso moments (the discovery of the mutilated corpse is extremely well done and blessedly ungraphic), but overall the result is much less than prime De Palma. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The second half feels heavy and unfulfilled, potential greatness reduced to a good movie plagued with problems. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Although the action set pieces are impressive, the exposition is sluggish. For all the posh dollies, high angles, and Venetian-blind crisscross patterns, The Black Dahlia rarely achieves the rhapsodic (let alone the delirious). Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The film is more than a little in love with the corruption it finds under the floorboards -- and that, of course, is perfectly dandy. I wouldn't trust a film noir that wasn't enthralled by decadence. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
De Palma's direction shines, but noir script doesn't match his gifts. Read full review
63
PremiereEthan Alter
You've got to give the guy (De Palma) some credit. He's made a bizarre, baffling and at times flat-out bad movie. But at least it's rarely boring. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film's atmosphere is incendiary. It has style to burn. But for the most part, the performances are all wet. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
If this overcooked version of James Ellroy’s novel - inspired by a famous 1947 Los Angeles murder - is less than fully satisfying or even believable storytelling and acting, it’s still possible to get a kick out of this fever dream loaded with eye candy. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
"Chinatown" it ain't, not in any department. On its own level, however, new pic generates a reasonable degree of intrigue. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Swank's character and her performance are good enough to merit a movie of their own, instead of serving as fourth wheel to this lifeless ménage à trois. Read full review
60
EmpireAdam Smith
Gorgeously realised, gripping and doused in De Palma’s familiar technical wizardry, this is only let down by the director’s equally familiar uninterest in the humanity of his characters. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The Black Dahlia has sparks of brilliance, swaths of dark intensity, unpredictable crackles of wit, some solid acting. But it's chiefly flat and ambling and dull, insufficient in musculature and overripe with melodrama. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The production certainly looks sumptuous, and certifies Mr. Hartnett as a mainstream movie star. But the script is frequently impenetrable, the pacing is ponderous, and the film noir style can't conceal a crucial piece of misconceived casting.
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The Black Dahlia captivates with its dark style. But as with the particulars of the yet-unsolved case, the movie is frustratingly convoluted. What it accomplishes with its stunning cinematography and set design is undercut by a lack of coherence. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The Black Dahlia, looks so terrific and is filled with so many imaginatively showy sequences and masterful directorial touches that you almost don't notice that, in every other way, it's just not a very good movie. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
A few scenes are worth the price of admission for their inspired camp alone; Shaw happens to be in two of them. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Beautifully crafted, intricately plotted and obviously a labor of love. It is also a mess. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Director Brian De Palma will probably take the rap for this tepid noir, but the real culprits are Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, red-hot lovers in life but (as ever) gorgeous stiffs on-screen. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The world of The Black Dahlia is beyond bleak, beyond film noir. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The first thing you notice about this so-so adaptation of James Ellroy's novel is the shoddy acting. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
In writer Josh Friedman and director Brian de Palma's attempts to condense the book's convulsively odd final chapters, they've created an even loonier melodrama. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The plot has been greatly streamlined from Ellroy's book, but even so, it isn't any clearer, and the ending, convoluted and barely believable, hits with a thud. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Film noir is a style, but self-conscious film noir is just a stylistic tic, less a genre than an ailment. And The Black Dahlia has got a really bad case -- this thing is so mannered it convulses. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The sloppiness of the ending doesn't only damage The Black Dahlia, it sinks the project. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Looks and flows great, dripping with the 1940s crime-thriller atmosphere that James Ellroy described in his 1987 novel. On other levels -- plot (overstuffed), suspense (muted), acting (Hilary Swank as a femme fatale? Please!), posing (Scarlett Johansson plays dress-up as a mini Lana Turner), sex (it's all before and after) -- the movie is a bust. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The picture is a kind of fattened goose that's been stuffed with goose-liver pâté. It's overrich and fundamentally unsatisfying. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It's a stilted thing--overstylized and inexpressive, like high-school kids playing dress-up, or bad Kabuki. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. De Palma can be a director of dazzling creative lunacy, but there's little craziness in this restrained, awkward film. With the diverting exception of Hilary Swank, who plays a slinky degenerate named Madeleine Linscott, the leads are disastrous. Read full review
40
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Here's the lowdown, the q.t., the true gen: The Black Dahlia is a big nowhere. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Doesn't provoke bittersweet inquiries regarding one poor actress' grisly fate. Nor does it stir up much provocation on the matter of why, as a popular audience, we're still taken with this lurid symbol of sex and dread and desire. Rather, the movie raises a much simpler question: Huh? Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A ludicrous mishmash undermined by ghastly performances and a hopelessly convoluted screenplay. Read full review
30
SlateDana Stevens
Even when engineering a howler like this, De Palma does it in such high style, with such a confident swagger, that the movie is half over before you realize how little is there. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It looks stylish, sure, but the script is laughable and the acting is ridiculous. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Forty-five minutes in, I was already glancing at my watch and wondering why the only lively actress in this film was playing the dead girl. Go figure. Read full review
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