--- title: "The Black Dahlia: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-black-dahlia/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-black-dahlia" critics_score: 49 critics_reviews: 13 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Black Dahlia (2006): what the critics said Critics' score 49 from 13 reviews: 3 positive, 3 mixed, 7 negative. The reviews lean negative: more than half the critics find the film wanting and only a handful defend it. What praise there is goes to De Palma’s craft, chiefly the visual set pieces and the mounting of post-war Los Angeles. One sequence, the screen-test footage of the murdered woman, is singled out by several critics as the point where the film’s ideas about voyeurism and self-delusion come into focus. Hilary Swank draws steady approval, and Mia Kirshner’s brief turn as Betty Short is noted more than once. The complaints cluster on the plot, which most critics find overloaded and hard to follow, and on the running time. Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson divide opinion sharply: Variety and The New York Times find them close to disastrous, while The AV Club calls them naturals. The spread is wide, with The AV Club near the top of the scale, the Evening Standard placing it in the class of LA Confidential, and a bloc of American papers near the bottom. ## The AV Club — Nathan Rabin Rating A-. 15 September 2006. Praises De Palma’s restrained yet obsessive noir adaptation of Ellroy, with Hartnett and Johansson as naturals in the hardboiled world; singles out the haunting audition/voyeurism sequences as a highlight of the film’s themes. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-black-dahlia-1798202031) ## Slant Magazine Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 2006. De Palma eschews straightforward adaptation for a formally complex, tragic take that foregrounds political consciousness and loss; singles out the expressionistic camerawork and the way it visualizes the protagonist’s grief and the society’s corruption. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-black-dahlia/) ## Evening Standard Rating ****. 10 April 2012. Festival review. This is De Palma back to something like his best: a superbly shot, virtuoso thriller that may not quite match LA Confidential but is in the same class, with strong performances and stylish direction. It notes some melodramatic tendencies and weird moments but calls it one of the best American thrillers for some time. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/scarlett-womens-dark-secrets-7388186.html) ## Empire — Adam Smith Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). The critic praises De Palma's technical bravura, lush atmosphere, and strong casting, particularly Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, while noting the film's gripping noir style and visual wizardry. However, it faults the director's familiar emotional coldness and lack of interest in characters' humanity, making the denouement feel frigid. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/black-dahlia-review/) ## Screen Daily — Lee Marshall Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2006. Festival review. De Palma delivers a stylish genre exercise that nails the atmosphere of post-war Los Angeles but falls short of the cohesion seen in LA Confidential. The review highlights the solid cast and classic De Palma themes while noting the cluttered storyline. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-black-dahlia/4028437.article) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Rating 2/5. 15 September 2006. The critic finds this over-long and muddled adaptation of Ellroy's novel unsatisfying despite its handsome mounting and directorial gusto. The plot leads nowhere satisfying and features some over-the-top melodramatic performances. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/sep/15/thriller.scarlettjohansson) ## Time Out — Ben Walters Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 12 September 2006. The adaptation struggles to capture the novel's depths, with De Palma's cinematic indulgences overwhelming the story of obsession and corruption. The critic praises the screen-test footage sequence for exposing the film's themes of self-delusion. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-black-dahlia) ## Los Angeles Times — Carina Chocano Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 2006. The film feels like a bait and dump, overloaded with noir conventions, overripe period detail, and an overly complicated, hard-to-follow plot that buries the central mystery. The brief glimpses of the Dahlia herself and some campy, over-the-top scenes (notably with Fiona Shaw) provide the main points of interest amid the excess. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-15-et-black15-story.html) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 2006. The film is overrich and fundamentally unsatisfying due to rampant allusiveness, an awkward and overly complicated narrative, and undigested plot elements that lead to irritation rather than satisfaction. De Palma's visual brilliance in certain scenes, such as bodies falling in slow motion, is praised, along with Mia Kirshner's effective turn as Betty Short. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/09/18/inescapable-pasts) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 2006. The critic finds the film restrained and awkward despite De Palma's potential for creative lunacy, with the leads (except Hilary Swank) disastrous and the grim reality of the real murder weighing heavily. Swank's slinky, convincing performance as Madeleine Linscott is singled out for praise amid the film's lack of playful cinematic energy. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/movies/15dahl.html) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2006. A ripping yarn undercut by lackluster performances (especially Hartnett and Johansson) and overripe late melodrama, though De Palma delivers fine visual set pieces and atmosphere. Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank stand out among the cast for strong impressions in a film that generates intrigue but falls short of classic noir like Chinatown. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2006/film/awards/the-black-dahlia-1200513882/) ## Eye for Film — Chris Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 19 September 2006. The film is an intensely visual experience that prioritizes De Palma's stylistic auteurship and filmmaking aesthetic over narrative substance, which may annoy average viewers. The intriguing crime story is presented through a deliberately muted, dreamlike lens that suppresses reality. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-black-dahlia-film-review-by-chris) ## The Skinny — Steve Adams Rating ★★. 13 October 2006. The critic credits De Palma for attempting a noir adaptation that other directors avoided but faults the result as overly convoluted 'noir-lite' focused on a romantic triangle rather than the crime itself. The film is called smug, too long by half an hour, and ultimately alienating to viewers. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-black-dahlia) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-black-dahlia.md