The Counselor
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: October 25, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
15
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Tampa Bay TimesColette BancroftOct 24, 2013
The Counselor explodes with violence that is grisly, but not gratuitous: McCarthy has a point to make. Wars create monsters, and the drug war is no exception. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 24, 2013
Mr. Scott’s seriousness isn’t always well served by the scripts he films, but in Mr. McCarthy he has found a partner with convictions about good and evil rather than canned formula. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 23, 2013
The Counselor achieves the almost unheard-of daily double of giving us the most outrageous sex scene of the year AND the most unforgettably brutal murder of the year. This is a badass journey from start to finish. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 24, 2013
In its cross-cultural breadth, director Ridley Scott’s smart and violent film merits comparison to Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic,” but the dialogue delivered by the stellar cast is incomparably McCarthy’s. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamOct 25, 2013
An absorbing thriller that favours vivid characters, profound ideas and Old Testament morals over propulsive plotting and set-pieces. With lots of blood. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoOct 24, 2013
This one has more in common with Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” in the memorable way it escalates, inevitably but also unexpectedly, into a spin through wilder country, and a meditation on bigger themes. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnOct 24, 2013
Undoubtedly one of the weirder, narratively sophisticated adult dramas released by a major studio this year, The Counselor is also just enjoyable enough to hint at the unrealized potential of the main talent behind its creation. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 23, 2013
No amount of needless chatter can quite dilute the power of The Counselor’s grim endgame, especially given the way its writer and director conspire to keep the threat offscreen, like some terrible, unseen force of nature. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriOct 24, 2013
It shows us things — obscene and hilarious, yes, but also just as often harrowing and unforgettable — we never thought we’d see. It’s ridiculous, but it has a ragged nobility all its own. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasOct 23, 2013
McCarthy’s voice comes through strongly enough to excuse the film’s excesses and cast its more generic plot elements in a new light. Read full review
68
Film.comKate ErblandOct 24, 2013
A darkly tense drama that rarely hits anything resembling an emotional beat. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 23, 2013
Fassbender, though, gets the kudos (again) as the man who has everything but loses it all – thanks partly to a slyly cast Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) and, more important, to the character’s moral compass that points wherever he feels it should, until, of course, it points due south of heaven. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 25, 2013
Among the players, the wild-haired Bardem stands out, and a vampy Diaz sets the stage for uninhibited future in villain roles, or deadly-sexy car sales. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 25, 2013
McCarthy's screenplay, a tangle of doublecrosses and dead men, has just been published. Those who really want to know what's going on would be advised to buy a copy. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineBill WeberOct 23, 2013
The film doesn't temper enough of Cormac McCarthy's excesses, but Ridley Scott and his ensemble find enough meat in his scenario to make for diverting, bloody pleasure. Read full review
60
EmpireMark DinningOct 25, 2013
Ridley Scott finally gets to put Cormac McCarthy on the screen. It’s no No Country, but despite its less successful elements is shocking, powerful and — this just in — more gorgeously written than any movie you’ll see this year. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearOct 24, 2013
For every camp element like Javier Bardem’s rainbow-vomit outfits or Diaz’s onanistic tryst with a car windshield, there are a dozen poetic-pulp moments that channel McCarthy’s pitiless view of the world to a tee. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 24, 2013
It never quite adds up. You can’t shake the feeling that both Scott and McCarthy are aiming for something here that remains out of their reach. Read full review
58
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanOct 24, 2013
For a while, it’s fun to watch Bardem camp around in his rose-tinted glasses and stuck-my-finger-in-a-socket hairdo. Read full review
55
NPRIan BuckwalterOct 25, 2013
If The Counselor is a failure, it's at least a fascinating one. Much of the reason for that is time spent in the theater examining why the film isn't working. Read full review
50
Village VoiceSam WeisbergOct 29, 2013
The Counselor is the cumbersome end product of a high-minded writer trying to slum and a slick director aiming for cosmic depth. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 28, 2013
It's not so much a bad film as it is a disappointing one. A very disappointing one. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comDan CallahanOct 25, 2013
What works for him (McCarthy) in a novel cannot be said to work for him here. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 24, 2013
Oddly, the published screenplay – while far from McCarthy's top-drawer – reads better than it plays. What's onscreen recalls a line from No Country: "It's a mess, ain't it, Sheriff?" Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 24, 2013
All that — and yet, dull. Why? Read full review
42
The PlaylistGabe ToroOct 24, 2013
It’s as if “The Man Of Steel” was ninety minutes of supervillians shit-talking Superman, then casually sticking kryptonite in his face without even pretending it’s a surprise. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 20, 2013
It feels like a film that is attracted by the shape of love and pain, but is a long way from understanding the content. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeNov 12, 2013
At least Cameron Diaz gives it some welly as the gold-toothed femme fatale who may or may not hold all the cards. Read full review
40
The GuardianKatey RichOct 24, 2013
Working as a screenwriter for the first time after years of seeing his novels successfully adapted to the screen, McCarthy is stretching his powers of language and mood – and, all too quickly, stretching his slim story and cast of characters way too far. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 24, 2013
Ultimately, this dull tour of a thieving, primal underworld is just a lot of high-talking hogwash. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 24, 2013
The overwritten script and the ridiculous plot combine to make The Counselor a frustrating experience. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie OgleOct 24, 2013
What you don’t expect is camp. The Counselor is more "Wild Things" than "No Country for Old Men", with which it shares a border town setting. But at least "Wild Things" knew what it was. The Counselor treats its material seriously and seems to have no idea it’s a joke that can’t even muster up a bit of smarty-pants Tarantino cleverness or energy. Read full review
37
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 24, 2013
A movie that, despite its strenuous efforts to appear hardened and sexy and sleek, is unforgivably phony, talky and dull. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyOct 24, 2013
A jaw-dropping misfire. The dialogue is laughably pretentious, the plotting is virtually nonexistent, and the performances are so broad and cartoony that you keep wondering if it's all some sort of prank. Read full review
30
TimeMary PolsOct 24, 2013
The Counsellor is neither an outright disaster nor misunderstood masterpiece: it’s just a very bad idea for a film, proficiently executed. Read full review
30
VarietyPeter DebrugeOct 24, 2013
The script is nearly all dialogue, including several eloquent spoken passages toward the end, but it’s a lousy story, ineptly constructed and rendered far too difficult to follow. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyOct 23, 2013
Despite its scaldingly hot cast and formidable writer/director combination, The Counselor is simply not a very likable or gratifying film. In fact, it's a bummer. Read full review
25
New York PostLou LumenickOct 24, 2013
Like “Traffic’’ on a massive dose of downers, Ridley Scott’s The Counselor is a great-looking and star-filled but lethally pretentious, talky, lethargic drama. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 24, 2013
It's possible there has never been anything like it. It contains memorable dialogue, vivid characters and several superb scenes, and yet it still manages to be wrong, a complete miscalculation. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 24, 2013
McCarthy has not done himself or his reputation any favors with this original. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 24, 2013
What's missing is dramatic subtext and surprise, as well as any playfulness that might have kept us guessing about the plot. Read full review
0
Portland OregonianJeff BakerOct 25, 2013
The Counselor is nothing but a dumb, gory, grab-bag of clichés and the biggest waste of talent since "Savages." It makes Oliver Stone look subtle. Read full review
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