Critics Consensus: Need for Speed is Busted

Need For Speed

23%

Movies based on video games don’t have a great track record, and unfortunately, the trend continues with Need for Speed; critics say that despite a couple decent action scenes, this slick action flick stalls when it comes to plotting and characterization. Aaron Paul stars as Tobey Marshall, a hotshot driver and mechanic with something to prove: he was framed in the vehicular death of a friend and served time in prison. He decides to avenge this injustice by entering a risky cross-country race against his former nemesis. The pundits say the cast is strong in underwritten roles, but on the whole, Need for Speed lacks the giddy panache to make it a ride worth taking. (Check out our video interview with Paul, as well as our gallery of the stars and cars of Need for Speed.)

The Single Moms Club

19%

As is usually the case, the latest effort from director Tyler Perry wasn’t screened for critics prior to its release in theaters. In The Single Moms Club, a disparate group of women are tasked with coming together to plan a school event after their kids get into trouble. Guess the Tomatometer!

Also opening this week in limited release:

• Big Men, a documentary about an American company’s effort to drill for oil off the coast of Ghana, is at 100 percent.
• Le Week-End, starring Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan in a drama about a feuding married couple who spend an eventful weekend in Paris, is Certified Fresh at 98 percent.
• Patrick: Evil Awakens, starring Charles Dance and Rachel Griffiths in a horror film about a nurse who is terrorized by a telekinetic patient, is at 86 percent.
• Teenage, a documentary about the history of youth culture, is at 83 percent.
• On My Way, starring Catherine Deneuve in a dramedy about a woman who ditches her stressful life for an impulsive road trip, is at 83 percent.
• Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Mélanie Laurent in a thriller about a history professor who meets his doppelganger, is at 79 percent (check out Gyllenhaal’s Five Favorite Films here).
• Bad Words, directed by and starring Jason Bateman as a 40-something who enters a series of middle school spelling bees in order to settle an old score, is at 74 percent.
• Exposed, a documentary about a new generation of burlesque performers, is at 73 percent.
• Veronica Mars, starring Kristen Bell as the amateur gumshoe who returns to her hometown to solve the murder of a friend, is at 70 percent (check out our video interview with the stars here).
• U Want Me 2 Kill Him?, a thriller based on the real life case of a teenager who stabbed his close friend, is at 57 percent.
• The Cold Lands, starring Lili Taylor in a drama about a young boy who hides in the woods after his mother dies, is at 50 percent.
• The Art of the Steal, starring Kurt Russell and Matt Dillon in a caper comedy about a complex art heist that goes awry, is at 48 percent.
• Better Living Through Chemistry, starring Sam Rockwell and Michelle Monaghan in a comedy about a small-town pharmacist caught in a love triangle, is at 29 percent.
• Dark House, a horror film about a young man with telekinetic powers who inherits a mysterious dwelling, is at 20 percent.
• Shirin In Love, a romantic comedy about an unhappily engaged woman who falls for an eccentric young man, is at 20 percent.
• The Right Kind of Wrong, a comedy about a sad sack who falls for a married woman twice his age, is at 15 percent.