Metacritic Movie Ratings
Room 237 Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  VarietyRob Nelson

  Handsomely produced and never less than hugely entertaining, Ascher's film is catnip for Kubrickians and critics both professional and otherwise.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Room 237 makes perfect sense of "The Shining" because, even more than "The Shining" itself, it places you right inside the logic of how an insane person thinks.

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• 100

  out of 100

  The New York TimesManohla Dargis

  Like “The Shining” and its maze within a maze, Mr. Ascher’s movie is something of a labyrinth. Puzzling your way through its compilation of vaguely lucid and crackpot ideas is pleasurable though, for avid movie lovers, it may also feel like a warning.

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• 90

  out of 100

  Village Voice

  Even if the theories don't persuade you, the film fascinates. It's revelatory about the nature of spectatorship in an era when technology allows audiences to watch films frame by frame.

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• 90

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthy

  Nutty, arcane and jaw-dropping in equal measure, this is a head-first plunge down the rabbit hole of Kubrickiana from which, for some, there is evidently no return.

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• 90

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  Room 237, which goes into national distribution this weekend, may be the surpassingly eccentric — and enormously entertaining — film that Kubrick deserves.

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• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips

  I found most of what's actually put forth in the film interpretively ridiculous. But I'm just one theorist among millions, and the film worked for me anyway.

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• 70

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  Room 237 becomes not a film about "The Shining" or even a film about film. Rather, it is an examination of the nature of obsession, about how we are capable of convincing ourselves — and possibly others — that just about anything might be true.

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• 63

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-Times

  Trouble is, the Room 237 conspirators — er, contributors — don't seem to realize that those meanings are either not hidden, not meanings or not remotely supported by the secret evidence they think they've uncovered.

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