The Usual Suspects | Telescope Film
The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects

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Following a crime boss backed fire and murder, U.S. customs officer, Dave Kujan, interrogates one of the sole survivors, Roger "Verbal" Kint. As the interrogation goes on, Kujan finds Kint's account to be convoluted, and struggles to figure out who crime boss Keyser Söze could be, but as he finds out, there's more to the story than what Kint tells.

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What are critics saying?

100

Variety by Todd McCarthy

The Usual Suspects is an ironic, bang-up thriller about the wages of crime. A terrific cast of exciting actors socks over this absorbingly complicated yarn that's been spun in a seductively slick fashion by director Bryan Singer.

100

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

A near-classic blend of mystery, personality, humor and terror, laced with one stunning shock after another. [18 August 1995, Friday, p.C]

100

San Francisco Examiner by G. Allen Johnson

This movie has everything but Humphrey Bogart, and I'm sure he's sorry he was unavailable.

100

Variety by Staff [Not Credited]

The Usual Suspects is an ironic, bang-up thriller about the wages of crime. A terrific cast of exciting actors socks over this absorbingly complicated yarn that's been spun in a seductively slick fashion by director Bryan Singer.

90

Newsweek by Jack Kroll

This one's done right. Here's an intelligent movie with no special effects. You have to pay close attention, to listen hard to its cross-fires of dialogue.

89

Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten

A movie with style to burn, and, initially, that is this crime drama's most mesmerizing aspect.

88

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

The Usual Suspects is an accomplished synthesis of noir elements and, as such, is an entertaining entry to the genre.

88

Baltimore Sun by Ann Hornaday

Dense, ironic and thoroughly engrossing caper melodrama.

88

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen

The Usual Suspects filled me with a highly unusual urge - to be a true "reviewer," to rewind the projector and figure out this humdinger once and for all.

85

Mr. Showbiz by F. X. Feeney

Byrne is a stand-up poet the way some actors are stand-up comics. His innate depth prompts The Usual Suspects to transcend its own cleverness--and this is the movie's smartest, least predictable surprise.

80

Film.com

I liked this film better the second time around.

80

Washington Post by Hal Hinson

This thriller is like a game of life-and-death chess, with quick double-crosses and wild gambits.

75

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

Dense with plot intricacies, thick with atmosphere, and packed with showy roles for a hip ensemble.

50

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Self-consciously bleak.

38

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

To the degree that you will want to see this movie, it will be because of the surprise, and so I will say no more, except to say that the "solution," when it comes, solves little - unless there is really little to solve, which is also a possibility.