Sling Blade Critic Reviews

Like the eloquent, darkly funny dialogue, the film's characters, setting and cadences draw us into its world, with all its terrors and tenderness. What emerges is a masterpiece of Southern storytelling that draws a sharp line between good and evil.Read the full review

A story that's startling, soulful and absolutely unforgettable.Read the full review

Sling Blade is about a society barely holding on by its fingernails, the home and hearth hardly a place of respite. Unlike "The Ice Storm" or "The Sweet Hereafter," Sling Blade is devoid of the creature comforts of middle-class life that at least allow people the degraded hobbies that keep them functioning. [May, 1998]Read the full review

It's a beautiful contraption of a movie, a gothic backwoods fable that uses its naive yet murderous hero to walk a fine line between sentimentality and dread.Read the full review

Catches you up so firmly in its world that you find yourself accepting whatever Thornton presents right up to its deeply ironic finish.Read the full review

Takes you down paths full of primitive, almost biblical implications, but it also finds comic relief in moments of palpable tension.Read the full review

There is pain, humor, irony and sweetness in the character, and a voice and manner so distinctive, he is the most memorable movie character I've seen in a long time.Read the full review

Marked by some powerful scenes, fine performances and colorful dialogue, this talented directorial debut by actor-writer Billy Bob Thornton has its effectiveness diluted by serious overlength and a rather monotonous, unmodulated tone.Read the full review

The narrative is little more than a flimsy envelope -- it's the men and women who are sealed within that make Sling Blade worth watching.Read the full review