64
Metascore
48 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The GuardianXan BrooksThe GuardianXan BrooksA less polished director might have become lost and confused along the film’s lengthy running-time. But Payne’s handling is perfect. He never puts a foot wrong, rustling up a picture that is as bright as a button and as sharp as a tack.
- 100The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyCaptivating, funny and possessed of a surprise-filled zig-zag structure that makes it impossible to anticipate where it's headed, this is a deeply humane film that, like the best Hollywood classics, feels both entirely of its moment and timeless.
- 90VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanDownsizing is an ingenious comedy of scale, a touching tale of a man whose problems grow bigger as he gets smaller, and an earnest environmental parable.
- 85TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldeDownsizing sees Payne and Taylor working on a larger palette than usual, but like their shrunken characters, the filmmakers’ humor and their sharp observation of the human condition have survived the change in size and scope.
- 83The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangHeady, bold statements about humankind are both the film’s best aspect and its chief flaw: There are just so many of them.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie Collin“A person’s a person, no matter how small,” Dr. Seuss once memorably counselled – and that’s as good a binding philosophy as any for Alexander Payne’s exhilaratingly odd new film.
- 80CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleThis is Payne's most political film since Election and refreshingly eschews the gentle social realism of Sideways and Nebraska for something much more subversive. The pointillist normalcy of those films is used well as a context in which to embed the craziness of his Kaufmanesque high concept.
- 70Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallThere’s something for everyone in Downsizing - just not a full meal.
- 40Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfAs medium-grade satire (hardly another The Truman Show), Downsizing works fine enough. But it makes a series of wrong moves that throw off the delicate tone, raising the pretension levels to toxic.