62
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangPartridge navigates risky material with assurance, delicacy and a deepening sense of intimacy that can turn, without warning, into complicity: The more at ease we feel in the characters’ company, the more disturbingly questionable the situation becomes.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThroughout Lamb, Laurence makes sure that every one of the character’s bad choices makes sense. That’s what makes the movie so sad.
- 75The PlaylistKimber MyersThe PlaylistKimber MyersWhat’s interesting about Lamb is that it doesn’t stand in judgment of its protagonist; it neither condemns him for what are undeniably bad and illegal choices, nor does it celebrate them either. Though not always successful, this is a complicated film that should cause its audience to continue to think about its characters and the actions they take.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckLamb proves itself a deeply intriguing psychological drama that should inspire much spirited debate. Let the controversy begin.
- 70Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleThe compulsively watchable oddness of Lamb and its commingling of innocence and peril keep it from easy categorization.
- 63RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzRogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzLamb is empathetic and untrustworthy, haunting but often unpersuasive. In the end it's hard to say what the film's point is. But it lingers in the mind.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattBased on a lauded 2011 novel of the same name, Lamb is about as strange as it sounds: a Lolita story almost more unsettling for the lines it doesn’t explicitly cross.
- 50The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisMr. Partridge never figures out how to complicate his version and its voices, or maybe doesn’t want to. He softens Lamb and Tommie with tears, safe hugs and averted looks and, once they land in the countryside, mires them in sentimentality.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSan Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisThis film doesn’t know exactly what it wants to say.
- 38Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardRoss Partridge seems flatly fascinated by Lamb’s pathology without trying to understand its formation from environmental factors.