Dark Places 2015

Miriam Di Nunzio, Chicago Sun-Times: The third offering from Flynn Dark Places does its best to stir a multitude of emotions within us, but in doing so, the film feels contrived and hurried. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: No matter how you feel about "Gone Girl," there's no denying that Gillian Flynn's second bigscreen adaptation is a relative disappointment. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Inexpert execution, lazy attention to detail and a lackluster lead performance conspire to render a juicy mystery rather boring. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Paquet-Brenner wrings the suspense out of "Dark Places" almost from the get-go, with a plodding pace and characters who are meant to be powerfully repressed but only come across as drab. Read more

Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune: Existential questions aside, the surface-level generic pleasures of "Dark Places" and the stellar cast are entertaining enough, even if it doesn't quite stick the landing. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: The mystery unspools slowly, with so many different twists and turns it's impossible to figure it out ahead of time. That's fine. By the time you get there, however, you probably won't care anymore. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Dark Places just becomes an overstuffed, low-simmer potboiler with too many improbable detours and overly convenient twists. Read more

Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter: It keeps the guessing game going long enough to compensate for some otherwise shallow characterizations, while Theron offers up an earnest and downbeat turn that says a lot with little dialogue ... Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: A convoluted, airless procedural that generates practically no suspense and little that's thematically resonant about lost souls and poisoned memories. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner marshaled a top-tier cast and commanded them to tromp across Flynn's intelligent bestseller like investigators muddying a crime scene. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Dingy and dumb. Instead of a quickened pulse, it results in multiple yawns and a "So, that's it? Meh." Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Welcome to "Dark Places," where you can spend nearly two hours in the presence of some of the most unpleasant people you'll ever have the misfortune to encounter at the movies. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: "Dark Places" isn't a disaster of a film. Instead, it's the definition of average, and we wish it could have taken us to some more interesting places. Read more

Stacey May Fowles, Globe and Mail: While there is still some flicking at the book's more human themes of best-intentioned familial deceit, forgiveness and healing, they're all but blotted out by Gilles Paquet-Brenner's slapdash direction. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: A brooding performance by Oscar winner Charlize Theron ... elevates the material from mediocre into bearable. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: That unnerving way Flynn has of taking us to dark, deliciously twisted places has been utterly massacred. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The mystery itself eventually becomes tiresome and shrug-worthy, even as the film breathlessly racks up the revelations. Read more