Red State 2011

A.O. Scott, New York Times: For all its boisterous profanity and splattery violence, the film is more of a weary sigh than a sputtering volley of indignation. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: With Red State, Smith ventures far outside his comfort zone of endlessly chatty films about pop-culture-damaged slackers and into exhilaratingly unfamiliar waters. He's taking as many bold chances artistically as he is commercially. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Wants so badly to push viewers' buttons, but struggles to reach them more often than not. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Red State is cleverly contrarian enough to get a rise out of almost any audience. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The startling Red State proves that everything you knew - or thought you knew - about Kevin Smith is wrong. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Add a bunch of forgettable characters (including a one-note Melissa Leo) and an ending which flirts with (but then flees from) a truly provocative climax, and you've got a project which perhaps only Rob Zombie could have made something of. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It's a charming if conspicuously unfinished film, a half-riotous, half-idiotic send-up of the teen horror genre with a vaguely hip political twist. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: If nothing else, it's nice to see this director refusing to play by the rules of the multiplex. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Calculated to outrage and executed to underwhelm, Kevin Smith's Red State is like a dull blade slashing wildly, predictably and ineffectually at its target. Read more