It shares a propensity for treating its characters more as moveable, quippy pawns than as real people, a problem that the strong actors can only do so much to fix.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 18, 2024

A weird, intense movie that has the courage of its convictions.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 31, 2024

The performances are acerbic... Pike's Elspeth is brilliantly cracked.

| Dec 29, 2023

The power of Barry Keoghan’s center-ring performance cannot be adequately over-praised.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 18, 2023

The sexual groveling of Oliver is akin to the social groveling of anyone who worships the ultra rich simply for being rich.

| Dec 14, 2023

Mr. Keoghan has an uncanny ability to come across as shifty and devious even in repose, and his performance is the key to the movie.

| Dec 5, 2023

But by the end of it, I just felt like I I've seen this movie before.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 1, 2023

There’s fertile ground for satire here, but that would require a scalpel, and Fennell wields a blunt hatchet.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 1, 2023

Emerald Fennell’s deliciously dark comedy sticks the knife into the English class system and gives it a proper twist.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 1, 2023

Love it or loathe it, Emerald Fennell’s deliciousl takedown of the upper classes keeps you glued to Barry Keoghan as a poorboy driven to madness and worse by a rich Adonis (Jacob Elordi) and his hilariously vampiric mom (an Oscar-ready Rosamund Pike).

| Dec 1, 2023

It's good, but familiar.

| Nov 29, 2023

One expects this development will effectively end Oliver’s time at Saltburn, but it only serves to embolden Oliver and motivate him to show his true colors. Let’s just say Saltburn and many of its denizens will never be the same.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 28, 2023

Certain to upset pious viewers while thrilling those who love twisted, decadent thrillers. And, oh my goodness, what an ending.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 27, 2023

A character who acts without context or motivation is not compelling to me. Saltburn tries to shock us, again and again—instead, it ends up being a bit of an empty suit.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 27, 2023

I've seen Keoghan in many movies but I barely recognized him in "Saltburn." It's a high-wire act and, even if "Saltburn" isn't always sure what it's doing, Keoghan never misses a beat.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 25, 2023

Visually, the movie can be quite pretty. Linus Sandgren, Damien Chazelle’s go-to cinematographer, shot it. Emotionally, it’s ugly through and through, which the prettiness makes that much uglier.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 25, 2023

A risible and hollow Talented Mr. Ripley for the Euphoria generation.

| Nov 24, 2023

Saltburn is a summer-break journey into bourgeois excess and sociopathic tenacity that wrapped its seductive tentacles around my throat and then spent 127 glorious minutes gently tightening its slithery embrace.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 23, 2023

Come for the class warfare and the occasional shots-fired zingers about the rich being different than you and me. Stay for Keoghan.

| Nov 22, 2023

Make no mistake, the clever writing is here, as is the style, the sleek technique, and some terrific performances (Rosamund Pike is especially delicious in a supporting role). What’s missing, or muddled, is the message -- and perhaps even more, the heart.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 21, 2023