---
title: "We Need to Talk About Kevin: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin"
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 23
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."
---

# We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011): what the critics said

Critics' score 72 from 23 reviews: 18 positive, 1 mixed, 4 negative.

Most critics respond strongly to Ramsay’s adaptation, with praise clustering around Tilda Swinton’s portrayal of maternal ambivalence and guilt. The fractured chronology, expressive images and unsettling sound draw frequent approval for placing viewers inside Eva’s troubled recollections rather than explaining events from a distance. Supporters find the blend of domestic drama and horror disturbing and emotionally precise, with several also singling out Ezra Miller’s performance.

The spread is wide, however, and the sharpest disagreements concern whether the film’s style deepens its psychology or substitutes for it. Even the favourable AV Club review finds Kevin too reductively monstrous, while other supporters value the decision to concentrate on his mother’s experience. Slant Magazine offers a much harsher dissent, arguing that the collage style and obvious music cues fail to illuminate the characters’ actions despite Swinton’s strong work. Across the reservations, emotional distance and insufficient insight recur more often than objections to the acting.

## Time Out — Dave Calhoun

Rating 5/5. 18 October 2011. 

Ramsay turns Shriver’s novel into mesmerising and provocative cinema that is intense first-person storytelling. The film is thought-provoking, confident and fearless, experimental but never alienating and horrific in all the right ways.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-2)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 December 2011. 

It is a domestic horror story told with uncompromising emotionality and great skill, examining the taboo of not instantly loving one's baby. Ramsay's visual mood and Swinton's ferocious performance are its strongest elements.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-dec-09-la-et-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-20111209-story.html)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 October 2011. 

The critic praises Ramsay's adaptation as a superb, nihilist tale of guilt and horror that puts its finger on unpalatable truths about motherhood and parenting. Swinton's performance as the haunted mother is tremendously acted, with inspired images singled out for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/oct/20/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-review)

## The Telegraph — Jenny McCartney

Rating ****. 

Tilda Swinton is mesmerising in this vital, visceral adaptation that feels faithful to the novel's spirit while standing as compelling cinema in its own right. The director's ruthless yet assured handling and the central performance are highlighted as strengths.

[Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8839576/We-Need-to-Talk-About-Kevin-review.html)

## Empire — Liz Moody

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2009. Festival review. 

Ramsay adapts the novel into a cinematic triumph with meticulous pacing and striking visuals that balance domestic drama and horror. The complex mother-son dynamic, anchored by Swinton and Miller's performances, haunts and fascinates.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/need-talk-kevin-review/)

## The AV Club — Scott Tobias

Rating B+. 12 January 2012. 

The critic praises the film's visual evocation of the mother's troubled psyche and tragic intimacy between mother and son but finds the portrayal of Kevin himself reductive and overly monstrous.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-1798171100)

## Evening Standard — David Sexton

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 12 May 2015. 

Ramsay's adaptation brilliantly recreates the story's ambiguity through expressionist techniques and fractured flashbacks from Eva's tormented perspective. Swinton delivers a sublime performance in this unsettling, must-see examination of nature versus nurture.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-review-7427225.html)

## Little White Lies — Jason Goodyer

Rating 4/4/4. 21 October 2011. 

Ramsay places viewers directly in the distraught mother’s head as she digs through her memory searching for clues. Borrowing heavily from the grammar of horror films, the expressive direction is matched by Swinton’s faultless performance packing layers of nuance into every sigh and scowl.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin)

## IndieWire — James Rocchi

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 13 January 2012. 

The review calls the film bleak but haunting, highlighting its intense portrait of maternal ambivalence and guilt in the wake of tragedy.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-lynne-ramsays-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-is-bleak-but-haunting-254290/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 May 2011. Festival review. 

Ramsay displays a firm grip of the complex story in a compulsively powerful adaptation. The strong cast and controversial storyline will boost distribution and further festival exposure is a given.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/5027341.article)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 9 December 2011. 

The film is a disturbing, intense horror movie about a mother's nightmare with her violent son, using dream logic and splintered chronology to build dread. It evokes primal fears rather than offering psychological analysis, with strong visual and sensory impact.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-with-tilda-swinton-review.html)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Kirk Honeycutt

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 12 May 2011. Festival review. 

The critic describes the film as a coolly cerebral drama about a mother and her murderous son that is as perplexing as it is intriguing. It praises Tilda Swinton's central performance while noting the film's nonverbal style and narrative tricks keep viewers at a remove.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/tilda-swintons-we-need-talk-187897/)

## The New Yorker

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 29 November 2011. 

The drama about a mother recalling her son's killing spree is essentially a horror film full of decorous sensationalism that exploits fascination with monsters without exploring it. It features skillful actors but gives them only prefabricated attitudes.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-2)

## Sight and Sound — Tim Robey

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 1 November 2011. 

Ramsay’s film is a jigsaw exercise in disassembly that imposes an eerie barrier between the ostensible storyteller and her guilt-inflected reminiscences. The most stinging moments are the vituperations of the present-day timeline where Eva receives savage slaps and petty acts of revenge.

[Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/6574)

## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez

Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 2011. 

The critic lambasts the film as fraudulent and affected, criticizing its overripe collage style, on-the-nose music cues, and failure to articulate meaningful reasons for the characters' actions despite strong work from Swinton.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/)

## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff

Rating A. 13 January 2012. Festival review. 

The film is a beautifully bleak exploration of loss, grief, and guilt through the mother's eyes rather than explaining the son's actions. Swinton's performance and Ramsay's impressionistic style make it chilling and insightful.

[Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/review-lynne-ramsays-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-is-bleak-but-haunting-20120113/)

## Paste — Donal Foreman

Rating 8.5. 13 December 2011. 

The review praises the film's fragmented, stylized approach that captures a traumatized psyche and its critique of the family unit. It highlights the intense cinematography, sound design, and how the story transcends demon-child clichés.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin)

## Collider — Phil Brown

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 9 September 2011. Festival review. 

The critic calls it emotionally devastating and a mini-masterpiece that will linger in viewers' minds. He singles out the disjointed structure, painterly visuals, and strong performances for praise while noting the morally ambiguous take on a difficult subject.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-review-2/)

## Den of Geek — Michael Leader

Rating 4/5. 21 October 2011. 

The film offers a startling portrayal of motherhood through Swinton's vulnerable performance and Miller's chilling turn as Kevin. Ramsay's restrained, atmospheric direction finds a compelling middle ground between themes and genres.

[Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-review/)

## Digital Spy — Simon Reynolds

Rating 4/5. 12 May 2011. Festival review. 

Ramsay fashions an intense and harrowing drama about the shattered bond between mother and son, marked by blistering performances from Swinton and Miller. The bleak film builds foreboding dread around a high school tragedy.

[Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/cannes-film-festival/a319105/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-cannes-2011/)

## The Skinny — Philip Concannon

Rating 4/5. 17 October 2011. 

Ramsay demonstrates full command of her material through exceptional cinematography and sound design that create constant unease. Swinton is magnificent as Eva, though the film is ultimately Ramsay's show with its arresting visuals.

[Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin)

## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 17 October 2011. 

Ramsay's adaptation matches the novel's intimacy and makes it even darker with fractured narrative and vivid red imagery. It explores guilt, social exclusion, and the roots of violence in everyday life through Eva's perspective.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 9 December 2011. 

The critic finds the film exploitative and unfocused in its examination of the mother's role and the son's violence, arguing it relies on visual tricks and heavy symbolism rather than meaningful insight. Strong performances by Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller are noted but ultimately undercut by the material's shortcomings.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/kevin-doesnt-quite-know-what-say-about-columbine-33457/)

---
© 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/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin.md