73
Metascore
47 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91IndieWireRyan LattanzioIndieWireRyan LattanzioBy the final jaw-dislocating cut to black, you’ll have no idea what just thwacked you.
- 90SlashfilmBen PearsonSlashfilmBen PearsonThe biggest strengths of the film are its sharp script and phenomenal lead actors, both of whom give committed performances which vacillate between ruthless pragmatism and explosive emotionality.
- 90VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThe key to the film’s potential success isn’t just that it’s made in a commercial genre. It’s that Fair Play, while full of sex, money, corporate backstabbing, and a lot of other things that are fun to watch, really is a good little movie.
- 90Vanity FairRichard LawsonVanity FairRichard LawsonFair Play is a film responsive to internet discourse but not acting in service of it. It’s a grim, dynamic thriller, one that sets workplace and home crashing into one another in a small symphony of beautiful disharmony.
- 80The GuardianBenjamin LeeThe GuardianBenjamin LeeIt’s a film of many, many high-volume arguments but Dynevor and Ehrenreich remarkably avoid even the slightest sign of histrionic excess, expertly carrying over their sexual chemistry to the couple’s more horrible moments – a pair you buy in moments of love as much as you do in moments of hate.
- 80Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangIf Fair Play spends the better part of two hours tracing this newly lopsided romance to its logical, unhappy conclusion, the blow-by-blow machinations are still a chilly wonder to behold. What gives the movie its driving tension isn’t just the glaring imbalance between Emily and Luke as employees, but a deeper incompatibility between the personal and professional imperatives they’ve chosen.
- 77Paste MagazineJacob OllerPaste MagazineJacob OllerDomont’s compellingly drawn portrait of entitlement, impotence and the amplified conservative values of the bros casting the bones of capitalism is a violent delight, filled with tough scenes. Yet, its unpredictable ending is such a triumphantly visceral showdown that the impossible is achieved: The excruciating intensity is completely worth powering through.
- 70Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonWilfully provocative — and going to extremes to make its points — this psychological drama sometimes strains credibility, but its poisonous cauldron of greed and contempt proves arresting.
- 67The Film StageJordan RaupThe Film StageJordan RaupChloe Domont’s feature debut Fair Play cuts deep even as it comes dangerously close to careening off the cliff of plausibility with a screenplay that dips into sophomoric.
- 42The PlaylistJason BaileyThe PlaylistJason BaileyDomont’s script just turns into a series of victories, defeats, increasingly distracting narrative leaps, and ultimately silly turns of tone that seem designed to provoke whoops and sneers and cheers.