73
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThis clear-eyed ethical drama is propelled by a performance of stunning psychological insight and raw feeling from Jasmine Batchelor. But the film is rendered even more affecting by the careful consideration it gives to the impact of her character's fluctuating decision-making, both on the people directly involved and those on the fringes.
- 88RogerEbert.comRogerEbert.comThere are many layers of complex, sensitive, and controversial subjects in The Surrogate, but writer/director Jeremy Hersh never lets it get preachy.
- 83IndieWireKate ErblandIndieWireKate ErblandAs Jess, Jasmine Batchelor (the film marks her first starring role in a film, the actress also produced it) turns in one of the year’s best performances, profound work that twists an already propulsive concept into a riveting character study.
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyThat writer-director Jeremy Hersh’s debut feature is a screen original surprises, not because it’s “stagy” (though he has written plays), but because its engagingly argumentative virtues aren’t typical for movies anymore, if they ever were.
- 80The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinNo one is a bad guy here, while all of them are also flawed, and the movie keeps the viewer wondering right up to the end what Jess will finally decide.
- 75The PlaylistJonathan ChristianThe PlaylistJonathan ChristianImperfections cannot steal away the ambitious underpinnings of Hersh’s intentions for “The Surrogate,” a down-to-earth analysis of the ever-precarious, self-serving human condition; an examination that speaks volumes despite its reserved demeanor.
- 75Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe tone ranges from testy to distraught, but always “adult” in the insistence on talking this out.
- 75The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakThe result can be frustratingly militant in its desire to show all angles of its central conflict (and how it sparks others), but the questions it makes us ask ourselves are worth it.
- 40The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThe Surrogate feels like the vexed progeny of an elevator pitch and an ethics advice column.