73
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceErnest HardyVillage VoiceErnest HardyWhile Hall and Shepard nail their parts, Don Johnson, still magnetic after all these years, steals the film as a sardonic private eye with a vintage cherry-red convertible.
- 80VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasA superior piece of Texas pulp fiction that starts out like a house on fire, sags a bit in the middle, then rallies for an exuberantly bloody finish.
- 80Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonTime Out LondonTom HuddlestonAny film that teams up gruffer-than-thou icons Shepard and Johnson is bound to go heavy on the testosterone, but Mickle undercuts all this strident manliness with a rich vein of self-mocking wit and paternal angst.
- 80TheWrapJames RocchiTheWrapJames RocchiCold in July never actually turns into the film you think it's going to, and even if that means there's a few unanswered questions ricocheting around your head as the credits roll, it also provides real, rich pleasures as it zigzags into the darkness.
- 75The PlaylistRodrigo PerezThe PlaylistRodrigo PerezCold In July doesn’t always work and it takes quite a long time to get adjusted to its coiling rhythm, but it’s far better than it has any right to be and perhaps, more significantly, is unusually absorbing and memorable.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyEntertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJohnson ties some of the film's looser ends together and makes you overlook the ones that stay untied. Between "Eastbound & Down," "Django Unchained", and now Cold in July, Johnson has a nice little streak going of turning seemingly disposable characters into indelible scene-stealing rascals.
- 70The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayEven as Cold In July’s overall arc approaches something of a dead-end, the individual scenes and performances are remarkable.
- 63Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSlant MagazineEd GonzalezWhile Jim Mickle's compositions lose much of their verve in the film's later half, his regard for the analog does not--and at the expense of perspective into his characters' emotional torque.
- 40CineVueDaniel GreenCineVueDaniel GreenThough not without merit, Cold In July finds Mickle happily stalled in front of the drive-in cinema screens of his youth. Let's just hope he can find the exit.