72
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The PlaylistRodrigo PerezThe PlaylistRodrigo PerezOverall, Cummings and McCabe’s film touches a raw nerve with sharp, funny, awkwardly prickly provocation.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanThe movie, at its best, holds you in its grip.
- 78Paste MagazineDom SinacolaPaste MagazineDom SinacolaAgainst a lean genre construction, Cummings sputters and apologizes and screams at people and breaks things—vaping constantly—less a force of nature than a flesh-and-blood body half-failing to contain the whiny forces of nature within. His performance is a miracle of control and timing, focused by how little control Jordan has in his life, how poorly timed everything seems to be.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenUnderneath the film’s seeming casualness is an astute portrait of alcoholism, as well as a knowing glimpse of how micro tensions affect macro power plays, from pissing contests between men to sexual violations.
- 75The A.V. ClubKatie RifeThe A.V. ClubKatie RifeCummings and McCabe zero in on an angle they do understand—the death scream of the untouchably powerful man—and can make fun of with precision.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeCummings works the same muscles that attracted attention in the festival darling Thunder Road and its follow-up, The Wolf of Snow Hollow: Exploring the varieties of volatile awkwardness and desperation, he plays a well-known type (the showbiz ladder-climber who’s nothing but a smile) while making the character unlike any we’ve seen.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe Beta Test is a wired, wound-up and instantly-hip/instantly-dated Hollywood riff on relationships — romantic, business and otherwise.
- 60The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinPart delicious satire of Hollywood culture and part frustratingly muddled thriller. But the good bits are sufficiently impressive it wouldn’t be fair to hold its flaws against it too much. We mustn’t be greedy for perfection.
- 58The Film StageMichael FrankThe Film StageMichael FrankIf one can get past the exaggerated nature of The Beta Test, there’s much to glean from its mixture of laughs and critiques. Come for the mystery, stay for the study of society by two white guys playing absolute assholes. Even if that study reaches farther than it can grasp.