A Perfect Getaway (2009)

All Critics (133) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (53) | DVD (6)

A big-reveal thriller with surprises that really do surprise -- and are worth waiting for through an audaciously long buildup.

December 18, 2009 Full Review

Dennis Harvey

Variety

Top Critic

Writer-director David Twohy (Pitch Black) serves up mechanical thrills culminating in a bogus twist ending

August 20, 2009 Full Review

Cliff Doerksen

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

A Perfect Getaway is a little better -- well, a little stranger -- than most of the disposables this summer.

August 14, 2009 Full Review

Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

Top Critic

David Twohy's taut, palm-sweating thriller has two things going for it: it keeps you guessing and it doesn't insult your intelligence.

August 14, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Top Critic

The aesthetic is closer to a grand finale of Survivor than anything else, and while all the actors do scrappy work, they don't have much psychology to play with -- unlike a fun, class-conscious wilderness tale like The Edge.

August 12, 2009 Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out New York

Top Critic

I just don't think there was enough drama in the first two-thirds of this movie.

August 10, 2009 Full Review | Comments (4)

Ben Mankiewicz

At the Movies

Top Critic

The film is not a total loss due to its interesting use of suspense and its tactic of placing suspicion on every character. While it's not one of the best thrillers out there, you could easily do worse.

September 24, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

Far from a perfect film, but it is a lot of fun. In the tradition of old-fashioned thrillers, the movie has some nice twists and turns in the plot.

July 21, 2012 Full Review

Kevin Carr

7M Pictures

A riveting horror-thriller that should do for hiking in Hawaii what Hostel did for backpacking in Slovakia.

July 6, 2010 Full Review

Steve Newton

Georgia Straight

Twohy's script dares and succeeds in peppering the dialogue with funny insider references to Hollywood scripts and actors.

April 13, 2010 Full Review

Janos Gereben

Entertainment Insiders

Twohy lets his story's central guessing game play out with patient tautness.

March 1, 2010 Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

A slight film, slight in its surprises and in its suspense, and yet not totally devoid of either.

December 17, 2009 Full Review

William Goss

Cinematical

A cunning, sideways-sneaking genre piece with both the fancy to surprise audiences and the adroit filmmaking to do so

September 4, 2009 Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

It works because it's smart, knows it's smart, announces to us that it's smart - then backs off and lets the suspense and dark comedy mix.

August 23, 2009 Full Review

David Cornelius

eFilmCritic.com

Twohy seems to think the eventual revelation is clever enough to be worth the price of admission by itself. It isn't. To give better value, he should have souped up the cartoonish violence of the final scenes.

August 17, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Edward Porter

Times [UK]

[An] effective thriller.

August 17, 2009 Full Review

Philip French

Observer [UK]

There's a lot of blood and little logic but the actors scream nicely.

August 17, 2009 Full Review | Comments (4)

Derek Malcolm

This is London

The set up is so good that it pains me to say that the last half hour falls apart. Once things are revealed, it becomes too silly.

August 16, 2009 Full Review | Comments (5)

Austin Kennedy

Sin Magazine

I changed my mind about this movie three times.

August 16, 2009 Full Review | Comments (2)

Linda Cook

Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

A structurally solid B-movie, marked by smart casting and carefully modulated performances, that delivers high on the popcorn-munching entertainment scale.

August 14, 2009 Full Review

Brent Simon

Shared Darkness

• 1. Cliff: So.. they're like... a couple?
  – Submitted by Laura S (11 months ago)
• 1. Gina: He's really hard to kill.
  – Submitted by Cori J (21 months ago)
• 1. Cydney: It's amazing how much people talk about themselves when their on vacation, talk to people they only just met.
  – Submitted by James W (2 years ago)
• 1. Cliff: We're not really hunting goats here, are we?
  – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)
• 1. Cliff: Nothing bad ever happens in Hawaii, right?
  – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)