35
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75ObserverSiddhant AdlakhaObserverSiddhant AdlakhaThe filmmaking works in and of itself, but that Lakewood feels so emotionally in tune with its lead actress is a feat all on its own.
- 70Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterDirected with brisk efficiency by Philip Noyce, the mix of adrenaline-rush emotion, manipulative melodrama and moralising is surprisingly entertaining in the moment.
- 42The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakWhile Noyce and Watts try their best to ramp up tension, Sparling’s foundation proves too flimsy to comply.
- 40The GuardianBenjamin LeeThe GuardianBenjamin LeeBefore things go south, there’s an effectively clammy escalation of panic as Watts leaps from call to call . . . But the script, from Chris Sparling . . . isn’t quite ingenious enough to find ways to involve her in the drama.
- 40VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanWatts’ commitment holds the movie together. She acts as if that phone were her flesh-and-blood partner. But it’s not. It’s a device impersonating something human. And so is Lakewood.
- 40SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSlashfilmChris EvangelistaI'm sure Lakewood had its heart in the right place, and Watts, gosh love her, is really trying, since she's pretty much the only person on screen for most of the movie. But every step Amy takes towards the school is another misstep the movie makes, and by the time she gets to her destination, we've already mentally checked out.
- 30The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeA case study in how storytelling contrivances can sabotage a courageously vulnerable performance, the movie addresses American parents’ deepest fears but is just one or two steps away from inviting ritualized communal mockery, à la The Room, at midnight screenings.
- 25The PlaylistMarya E. GatesThe PlaylistMarya E. GatesPhilip Noyce is a natural choice for this kind of film. He’s great with actresses in peril and at keeping tension ramped up to eleven. But using the collective trauma of a generation of parents and children as the backdrop for a real-time thriller, whose lives have proven time and again to matter less than the right to own an AK-47, remains unconscionably distasteful.
- 25TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleA crisis scenario striving for issue-driven importance that should have paid more attention to its dull suspense mechanics, slapdash style, and implausibility.
- 16IndieWireKristen LopezIndieWireKristen Lopez[A] maudlin, truly terrible thriller that relies far too heavily on manipulation and narrative revision to deliver a “message” that we don’t need to be spelled out for us.