45
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezStraw Dogs is an artful provocation - a meditation on masculinity and societal mores in the guise of an explosive thriller.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertRod Lurie has made a first-rate film of psychological warfare, and yes, I thought it was better than Peckinpah's. Marsden, Bosworth and Skarsgard are all persuasive, and although James Woods has played a lot of evil men during his career, this one may be the scariest.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversPeckinpah rubbed our noses in the bloodlust. Lurie invites objectivity. He gets strong, complex performances from actors who won't be painted into corners.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyWhereas Peckinpah managed not only to raise hackles but to get under the skin, Lurie manages only the former, which reduces the material to the level of sensation-mongering.
- 38Orlando SentinelRoger MooreOrlando SentinelRoger MooreAn exploitation picture built on redneck cliches and big city liberal outrage, it's not all bad. But it is a pretty unpleasant wallow in the obvious.
- 38Slant MagazineSlant MagazineDespite Lurie's part-time efforts to lend the film some sense of place, the impulse to hot-ify everything from Peckinpah's considerably more earthbound original ultimately outpaces his meager good intentions.
- 25Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsIt's miscast, barely functional in terms of technique, stupid and unnecessary. Other than that….
- 25The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe original was repulsive but impossible to shake. This remake is pure applause bait, which makes it barbaric in ways Peckinpah would never have dreamed.
- 12Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisIt's a crude, queasy, ugly remake of a crude, queasy, ugly, yet artistically superior 40-year-old Sam Peckinpah movie.