The Connection
Drafthouse Films | Release Date: May 15, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 4, 2015
Riveting from its first moments. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMay 15, 2015
While the results inevitably pale in comparison to "The French Connection" — which could be said about virtually every other film currently in release — they do make for an above-average work that offers viewers a new perspective on a familiar story. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 12, 2015
Despite familiar elements, including the classic family-versus-work conflict faced by almost every movie cop in history and the equally hoary discovery of corruption among Michel's colleagues, The Connection remains tense and believable. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryJun 4, 2015
Director Cédric Jimenez, who wrote the movie with Audrey Diwan, has created a slow burn of a movie. The action is intermittent, but a steady tension keeps things interesting. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 22, 2015
From scene to scene The Connection is never less than watchable, although it is also never less than predictable. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneMay 15, 2015
The film feels utterly infatuated by the cop/crook dividing line long-since drawn, if not flogged, by Michael Mann. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithMay 13, 2015
A passable French homage to the American crime epic, The Connection has plenty of visual style to go with stock characters. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 6, 2015
The Connection is long and occasionally long-winded and determinedly old-fashioned in its approach. That's why I liked it. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasMay 13, 2015
The grace notes in Dujardin’s performance are an important booster for The Connection, which conspicuously lacks the grit and flavor of William Friedkin’s tangentially related The French Connection, and at worst unfolds like Scorsese-lite. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiMay 27, 2015
A two-hour-plus cat-and-mouse game between the two heavyweight actors unfolds, and is enthusiastically filmed against a to-die-for soundtrack, detailing the exhaustive efforts on both sides to take the other down. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 11, 2015
It’s an easy film to watch and become engrossed in, and it’s just as easy to forget, despite a true-life twist that darkens the final minutes without making much of an impact on the whole. Expertly shot, excitingly edited, smartly acted, The Connection never quite connects. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinMay 26, 2015
For all the charisma of its hero and villain, it falls down on its failure to resist cliché. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMay 26, 2015
The script is solid, the period recreation spectacular and the performances muscular, but The Connection suffers from a severe case of overfamiliarity. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 14, 2015
Despite the pedestrian screenplay (by Jimenez and Audrey Diwan), Dujardin and Lellouche are magnetic performers who slip easily into their antagonistic roles. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMay 14, 2015
Fetishizing the tired tokens of the American gangster movie, The Connection is a slickly styled, overlong pastiche. Yet its denizens have a retro glamour and the soundtrack a shameless literalness that’s rather endearing. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 13, 2015
Without a hair-trigger renegade like Popeye Doyle or a long-awaited De Niro-Pacino showdown at its center, this procedural account, running well over two hours, takes on a certain plodding, obligatory vibe. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJessica KiangMay 13, 2015
The Connection feels at best like a cover version of the classic American crime films of the 1970s, and at worst like so much glossily mounted karaoke. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 12, 2015
It's a fleet, engrossing, familiar drama, a movie that's forever moving. Read full review
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