Stanleyville carves its own path in weird cinema with dry humor and mesmerizing surrealism.

| Aug 16, 2022

There's loads of social commentary, but viewers hoping to for enlightenment may enjoy the story’s oddball but thought-provoking themes, but still leave the movie still in search of life changing spiritual illumination.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2022

What if Squid Game featured not 456 contestants but five, a prize not of millions of dollars but a brand new habanero-orange compact SUV? Oh, and what if the various contests made absolutely no sense?

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 6, 2022

Weird though watchable, Stanleyville could be better with a sharper focus. But first-time filmmaker Maxwell McCabe-Lokos clearly aims high.

| Original Score: C+ | May 6, 2022

An ambitious failure is often more interesting than a safe success, and what ‘Stanleyville’ lacks in narrative propulsion it makes up for with sheer audacity.

| May 5, 2022

God bless Canadian weirdos.

| May 5, 2022

There is a rare sense of purity and sincerity to Stanleyville that make it almost inexplicably enthralling, while still remaining very, very funny. One of the years hidden treasures, this is not to be missed.

| Apr 29, 2022

What it lacks in terms of "blockbuster appeal" will be met tenfold by arthouse enthusiasts who cant get enough of obscure, absurdist indie films.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 27, 2022

The quirky setup provides more absurdist fun than the ambiguous payoff, as the lack of character depth and thematic texture creates a frustrating sense of emotional detachment.

| Apr 23, 2022

Stanleyville offers absurd humor and memorable set-pieces, elevating a familiar set-up even while caging in its grander ambitions.

| Apr 22, 2022

Some clever stuff here, but even at a tidy 89 minutes Stanleyville runs out of steam after a promising start, leaving us with far more questions than answers.

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 22, 2022

It's almost like the script is playing cat-and-mouse with us, and sometimes the broad characters are a little predictable.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 22, 2022

At first, the abstract design held me at a distance...Yet I kept rewinding it in my head, sifting through the fog to find an interpretation that fit.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 22, 2022

The various oddities on display take away the focus...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 22, 2022

What starts out as a screwball “Squid Game” ultimately yields a paltry payoff in the case of “Stanleyville,” a self-consciously quirky social satire that is content to coast on its waning surface weirdness.

| Apr 21, 2022

Its various elements gradually fit together to create something which is unsettling in all the right ways, yet somehow sweet at the same time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 21, 2022

As cinema, the lack of purpose becomes a test of patience.

| Apr 21, 2022

It's a high concept structure built with a lo-fi aesthetic that's populated by darkly comic performances lending a surreal dryness that captivates as the whole spirals out.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 21, 2022

Each of these people is grating from the jump, and yet their schtickiness makes it that much easier for them to surprise us, and maybe also themselves.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 21, 2022

This indie oddity is an enjoyable descent into the absurd despite an apparent lack of interest in answering most of the questions it raises.

| Apr 20, 2022