Searching Reviews

Page 1 of 2
Top Critic
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
March 20, 2020
Shot mostly with iPhones and GoPro cameras, the movie is visually drab and a little too gimmicky - ultimately it's a stunt, albeit an engrossing one.
Full Review
Top Critic
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2018
It's done with few words but it's unexpectedly touching, fulfilling the film's key promise - that it's going to make you care about these people, despite the secondhand nature of its delivery system.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
September 1, 2018
Searching is a taut, effectively paced mystery-thriller with a powerful emotional component.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
Top Critic
Geoffrey Macnab
Independent (UK)
August 31, 2018
As a drama about a father and a daughter relationship, Searching is nuanced and affecting.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5
Top Critic
David Jenkins
Little White Lies
August 31, 2018
Some nice moves but as shallow as YouTube celebrity.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5
Top Critic
Charlotte O'Sullivan
London Evening Standard
August 31, 2018
For most of its running time, Searching refreshes our screens. Smiley face.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
Richard Brody
New Yorker
August 31, 2018
Cho, Messing, and La are excellent actors who are offered almost nothing to work with.
Full Review
Top Critic
Brad Wheeler
Globe and Mail
August 31, 2018
The suspense is satisfactory; the pace is well-sustained. What really clicks, though, is the message: We leave digital bread crumbs everywhere we go, and if our secrets are not safe, neither are we.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
Top Critic
Adam Graham
Detroit News
August 31, 2018
That a thriller would come along utilizing these ideas was inevitable. What's unexpected is that it would be done so well.
Full Review | Original Score: B+
Top Critic
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
August 30, 2018
The distancing effect of technology turns the mawkish into something more meaningful and provides an impassive foil for David's meltdown.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
Bruce DeMara
Toronto Star
August 30, 2018
A well-crafted mystery with quite a few unexpected twists and turns.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
Top Critic
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph (UK)
August 30, 2018
Wasting a decent performance from John Cho as the desperate father of a missing teen, this film never commits to a cogent reason why it had to be told in such a way.
Full Review | Original Score: 1/5
Top Critic
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times
August 30, 2018
"Searching," a pleasantly gimmicky movie, gets its power from something that isn't a gimmick at all: an actor's ability to simply and movingly tell a story.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4
Top Critic
Mike McCahill
Guardian
August 29, 2018
Mostly, Searching holds the moderate, passive appeal of watching a competent player ace a round of Minesweeper, each click bringing us closer to the desired resolution.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5
Top Critic
Cary Darling
Houston Chronicle
August 29, 2018
"Searching" is like a refreshed web page, a new take on something woefully familiar.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
Mark Jenkins
Washington Post
August 29, 2018
[A] clever but silicon-chip-thin movie...
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4
Top Critic
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic
August 28, 2018
In its most inventive moments, it almost feels like a new way of storytelling.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5
Top Critic
Leah Greenblatt
Entertainment Weekly
August 28, 2018
First-time filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty (a former Google employee, appropriately) is a resourceful man, and a very clever one; he nearly aces his high-wire conceit to the end.
Full Review | Original Score: B+
Top Critic
Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service
August 25, 2018
The film does take a few too many turns on its journey. The end feels rushed, outlandish and possibly even reshot
Original Score: 2.5/4
Top Critic
David Sims
The Atlantic
August 24, 2018
A clever update on a housebound Hitchcock thriller like Rear Window, one that can make a series of Google searches play out like a high-wire action scene.
Full Review
Page 1 of 2