Stillwater

"It's a testament to (Damon's) tightly coiled performance that Bill comes off as nuanced and sympathetic as he does..."

"(Stillwater would) be more openly ridiculous, feel far more manipulative, if not for Damon's performance... (His) magic is in making a certain plainness, a near-anonymity, defiantly charismatic."

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

"Stillwater should be a deep investigation into a moral quandary, but it just ends up being shallow and irresponsible."

"Matt Damon plays the ultimate ham-fisted American in France, doing such a good job of it that he helps disguise the flaws of this sometimes compelling but often frustrating movie."

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

"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."

"Overly long but thoughtful..."

"Bad things happen and it’s somebody’s fault, but it’s all so very vague."

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

"Stillwater is wonderfully compelling before becoming completely baffling."

"A hokey and hectoring saga that evinces little respect or affection for its characters."

"It's possible to... admire the obvious intelligence and care that have been brought to bear on Stillwater - without fully buying the trail of contrivances and compromises it leaves in its wake."

"An ideal fusion of a Hollywood-style overall narrative with the detailed, lived-in emotional truth of a first-rate European effort."

"Matt Damon gives a solid performance... But (the) story is clunky, old-fashioned and predictable when it’s not implausible."

"Stillwater mashes up quest-for-justice, father-daughter dramatics, fortysomething romance and mid-life introspection for a refreshingly adult drama."

"It’s rather remarkable that a big Hollywood studio is releasing this difficult, curious film. I hope people give its heady mix of melodrama and political allusion a chance."

"It’s a disappointing, uneven and overlong film, but there’s something oddly compelling about how messy the end result is."

"Bidegain knows (that) literal-mindedness gets boring, and so he and Debré come at each scene sideways: They let certain things happen off screen, focusing instead on seemingly mundane snapshots that reveal far more about character."

"A strained but strangely affecting turducken of a movie that bakes a dad-on-a-mission thriller together with a heartwarming fish-out-of-water story and then a brutal crime drama..."