75
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyJessica KiangVarietyJessica KiangWilfully student-video amateurish in form, but impishly sophisticated in content, a gleeful cultural curiosity fairly crackles off The Plagiarists, and it is highly contagious.
- 90The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThe Plagiarists does skewer its characters, but where it goes from there is more genuinely bleak than what mere finger-pointing can achieve.
- 88Slant MagazineCarson LundSlant MagazineCarson LundThis is a rigorous film concerned with questions of cultural appropriation, learned behavior, and the very texture of life in our content-saturated present (a feeling not exclusive to urban centers), but one with the good humor and wisdom to disguise itself as something far more familiar.
- 83The Film StageRory O'ConnorThe Film StageRory O'ConnorWere The Plagiarists merely this observation of liberal minds in duress it would have made for a more than enjoyable watch but with credit to Kienitz and Wilkins’ terrific script, it becomes more nuanced and haunting only after that first act.
- 80CineVuePatrick GambleCineVuePatrick GambleThe topic of who can participate in the arts often ignores society’s racial prejudices and class assumptions, thankfully The Plagiarists’ perfectly judged mimicry of independent cinema illustrates the profound effect a lack of diversity has on the type of art that gets made.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichThe Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichThe film improves upon reflection, raising, as it does, some knotty questions about originality in art and in life, as well as provocatively positing that even a copy of a copy of a copy has the potential to move hearts and minds.
- 67The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyUltimately, it’s the awkwardness that they’re prodding. The Plagiarists isn’t asking why one person would tell a lie, but why another would be so bothered by it — an ambitious line of inquiry for which the film provides more references than concrete answers.
- 63RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmRogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmI got more enjoyment from reading Parlow’s exceptional interview in the production notes than I did from any given scene in the movie, some of which are so murky, they border on incoherent.
- 63New York PostSara StewartNew York PostSara StewartThe satire’s so meta that its whiny protagonists threaten to eclipse the joke.
- 33The PlaylistJonathan ChristianThe PlaylistJonathan ChristianThe Plagiarists is a fantastic idea that is irredeemably marred by poor execution. There is a genuine sensation of effort on screen and a select few of the ideas the film touches upon are outright brilliant, but the product still falls remarkably flat.