65
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Film ThreatJason DelgadoFilm ThreatJason DelgadoI was enthralled with Bardem’s performance, even in the subtle moments. This is important because The Good Boss focuses on him for almost the entirety of its one-hour and fifty-six-minute runtime. The rest of the cast is excellent as well.
- 63Boston GlobeMark FeeneyBoston GlobeMark FeeneyOnce the comedy does kick in, around the 100-minute mark, it does so quite nastily. The movie never quite recovers.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe raffish charisma and sinister, saturnine handsomeness of Javier Bardem is what raises this movie above the standard of soap-opera … mostly.
- 60The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeThe Observer (UK)Mark KermodeAn impressively slick and slimy performance from Javier Bardem is the standout selling point for this serviceable if (perhaps appropriately?) workaday satire on corporate corruption and alienated capitalism.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThere’s lots on the menu, and León de Aranoa brings it all together in a smooth manner. But the jokes tend to be too broad, and the themes too tritely handled.
- Bardem’s performance, as a man who has spent a lifetime hiding his unethical behaviour behind the veneer of patrician affability and who seems to have lost his feel for what’s right and wrong, has a depth and complexity that seems to come from somewhere else.
- 50Little White LiesDavid JenkinsLittle White LiesDavid JenkinsIt’s a decently constructed piece of fluff that is way too soft to exert any real lasting impact. Yet the reason to see it is for Bardem’s masterful, completely committed lead turn. The real comedy gold comes from his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it expressions and mannerisms that usually come when he’s listening to other people talk.
- 50The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe Good Boss provides prime material for Bardem, who has to maintain a polished veneer even as his character’s mendacity and troubles mount. As satire, though, the movie is facile.