San Francisco Chronicle

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.

A review by Mick LaSalle for San Francisco Chronicle on 2021-07-20

Chicago Sun-Times

Even when the story comes close to flying off the rails, Matt Damon holds steady and commands the screen.

A review by Richard Roeper for Chicago Sun-Times on 2021-07-29

As a blunt-force Oklahoma oil rigger trying to save his daughter jailed in France for murder, Matt Damon gives an indelible, implosive performance in a deeply personal human drama disguised as a crime thriller.

A review by Peter Travers for /reviews/publisher:

New York Magazine (Vulture)

Stillwater is the new movie from director Tom McCarthy, and it feels like one he’s spent his career preparing for — an enthralling, exasperating, and, above all else, ambitious affair that doesn’t soften or demand sympathy for its difficult main character but does insist on according him his full humanity.

A review by Alison Willmore for New York Magazine (Vulture) on 2021-07-30

Vanity Fair

From one vantage point, Stillwater may just be a sentimental and lurid riff on the infamous Amanda Knox case. But I think McCarthy has something bigger in mind, which he pokes at intriguingly throughout his movie’s considerable sprawl.

A review by Richard Lawson for Vanity Fair on 2021-07-09

Variety

The movie’s more interesting for being less obvious.

A review by Peter Debruge for Variety on 2021-07-09

The A.V. Club

It’s the first time McCarthy has made such prickly use of his talent for summoning audience sympathy, allowing Bill’s regrets about his parental shortcomings to resonate through his every decision.

A review by Jesse Hassenger for The A.V. Club on 2021-07-28

TheWrap

Bracketed by genre on both ends, the middle third of this 140-minute film becomes a gentle tale about a misfit finding in a platonic relationship a kind of second chance in life. In other words, it becomes a certain kind of Tom McCarthy film — and then gets back to the overarching story.

A review by Ben Croll for TheWrap on 2021-07-09

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

A review by Jake Kring-Schreifels for /reviews/publisher:

The Atlantic

Stillwater is a mainstream work that contradicts preconceived notions, and is all the more fascinating for it.

A review by David Sims for The Atlantic on 2021-08-02

New York Post

What director Tom McCarthy’s intriguing film — which is a tad overlong — deftly explores are the cultural barriers that prevent us from achieving basic goals, such as solving a murder, and connecting with people unlike ourselves. The story is a lot more nuanced than France vs. America.

A review by Johnny Oleksinski for New York Post on 2021-07-29

The Associated Press

Bill is a hard part to pull off, but Damon does, creating a flawed but compassionate character, made doubly hard since he outwardly reveals little emotion.

A review by Mark Kennedy for The Associated Press on 2021-07-29

Slashfilm

Despite its very flawed ending and baggy structure, Stillwater goes against the tide of our expectations and offers us a disarmingly affecting character study, anchored by an exceptional performance by Damon. Not even his bad beard could distract from that.

A review by Hoai-Tran Bui for Slashfilm on 2021-07-30

Wall Street Journal

Matt Damon, in the central role, confers a somber grace on a man who always thought he had none.

A review by Joe Morgenstern for Wall Street Journal on 2021-07-29

Los Angeles Times

McCarthy pushes the thriller narrative in directions more extreme and harrowing than plausible, bringing Bill and Allison’s story to an unexpected point of reckoning.

A review by Justin Chang for Los Angeles Times on 2021-07-09

A strained but strangely affecting turducken of a movie.

A review by David Ehrlich for /reviews/publisher:

Observer

With little action, no suspense and an ending that fails in every way, Matt Damon is the only thing memorable about Stillwater.

A review by Rex Reed for Observer on 2021-07-30

Washington Post

As in life, what drives most of the drama in this overstuffed but often thought-provoking movie is a failure to communicate.

A review by Ann Hornaday for Washington Post on 2021-07-29

Boston Globe

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

A review by Mark Feeney for Boston Globe on 2021-07-29

Fine performances aside, this is a classic 100 minute thriller that runs on for an extra 40 minutes and blows the punch line.

A review by Roger Moore for /reviews/publisher:

Ultimately, the cacophony of all these plot lines converging and the weight of the messaging being conveyed is almost too much to bear.

A review by Christy Lemire for /reviews/publisher:

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

It is at once highly watchable and baffling.

A review by Barry Hertz for The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on 2021-07-26

The Observer (UK)

Directed by Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), this is a thoughtful, knotty character study, albeit one nestled inside a polished, and less interesting, action thriller.

A review by Simran Hans for The Observer (UK) on 2021-08-07

Rolling Stone

The movie’s attentive sense of noticing makes its flaws, its leaps in logic, easier to notice. But this seems to matter less to the filmmakers than what the style has to offer the movie in terms of a message; on this front, Stillwater is tellingly consistent.

A review by K. Austin Collins for Rolling Stone on 2021-08-04

Time

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.

A review by Stephanie Zacharek for Time on 2021-07-29

Total Film

Damon’s sturdy presence just about holds it together, while Breslin shows some impressive chops as the daughter who is too aware of his failings to see him as her saviour. By the end, though, the still waters McCarthy seeks to navigate don’t run deep so much as dry – a consequence, you suspect, of trying to cram too many genres into one star vehicle.

A review by Neil Smith for Total Film on 2021-07-09

Screen Daily

There’s real feeling in this story — and a genuine desire to challenge audience expectations — which is laudable but only takes Stillwater so far.

A review by Tim Grierson for Screen Daily on 2021-07-09

Stillwater mashes up quest-for-justice, father-daughter dramatics, fortysomething romance and mid-life introspection for a refreshingly adult drama. It doesn’t coalesce completely, but Damon and Cottin keep it engaging.

A review by Ian Freer for /reviews/publisher:

CNN

Anchored by an impressive performance from Matt Damon, Stillwater confounds expectations in mostly frustrating ways.

A review by Brian Lowry for CNN on 2021-07-29

Original-Cin

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.

A review by Liam Lacey for Original-Cin on 2021-07-29

Austin Chronicle

Over the course of its bloated run time, this strange hodgepodge of a film clumsily shifts gears between a family/legal drama, a fish-out-of-water tale, a midlife romantic escapade, and something of a subdued vigilante thriller.

A review by Trace Sauveur for Austin Chronicle on 2021-07-29

Chicago Tribune

Stillwater feels like a movie filmed in a slightly blurry state of mind, then reshaped in the editing stage into a whole new blur. You don’t know where it’s going, and that’s a plus. Yet director and co-writer Tom McCarthy’s drama is as uncertain as his good movies, “Spotlight” highest among them, are quietly confident in going about their business.

A review by Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune on 2021-07-28

The Seattle Times

For most of its length, Stillwater goes along as a meticulous examination of its central characters. And then suddenly near the end it jumps the tracks.

A review by Soren Andersen for The Seattle Times on 2021-07-27

Slant Magazine

Stillwater gives itself over to drastic plot twists that derail what was already a film over-stuffed with narrative incident and ideas.

A review by Derek Smith for Slant Magazine on 2021-07-25

The Hollywood Reporter

Unfurling over a sluggish two hours plus, Stillwater is least convincing when McCarthy attempts to build suspense, with most of that work being done by Mychael Danna’s score. The late plot twists become almost risible, once Akim (Idir Azougli) enters the picture.

A review by David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter on 2021-07-09

It feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of at least two movies awkwardly combined—and perhaps a short, about French theater—riddled with plot holes, implausibilities, and ill-timed comedic beats.

A review by Caroline Tsai for /reviews/publisher:

The New York Times

It’s clear that Damon and McCarthy have thought through this man in considered detail, from Bill’s plaid shirts to his tightly clenched walk. The character looks as if he hasn’t moved his bowels in weeks; if anything, he feels overworked, a product of too much conceptualizing and not enough feeling, identifiable humanity or sharp ideas.

A review by Manohla Dargis for The New York Times on 2021-07-29

McCarthy keeps dragging the film away from thriller and procedural territory and back to this blossoming domestic setup – but while Damon and the kid share some cute scenes, it simply isn’t that interesting, and all the would-be colour (see: Virginie’s acting career) adds nothing but extraneous detail.

A review by Robbie Collin for /reviews/publisher:

Paste Magazine

As the film trickles toward its howler of a conclusion, any hopes McCarthy might somehow salvage this story evaporate. Stillwater sinks like a stone.

A review for Paste Magazine on 2021-07-27

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.

A review by Peter Bradshaw for /reviews/publisher: