SummaryThirty-something guy with arrested development falls for thirty-something girl with arrested development, but moving out of his junior high school bedroom proves too much. Tragedy ensues. (Double Hope Films)
Directed By:Todd Solondz
Written By:Todd Solondz
Dark Horse
Metascore
Generally Favorable
66
User score
Generally Favorable
6.9
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
52% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
45% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Aug 9, 2012
80
Reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred. And if you want to enjoy Dark Horse, you're just going to have to go with it.
User score
Generally Favorable
59% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
41% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Aug 7, 2012
8
Certainly more light-hearted than one of my faves Happiness, Dark Horse is an excellent film. The lead actor is terrific, Selma Blair is great (as usual), but Donna Murphy absolutely steals the show.
May 10, 2024
7
Just don't know what to to make of this film. The performances are all really good, and if you can handle the cringey sitautions, it is engaging. A few bits made me laugh and some real deep pathos in the mix too. Theatre of the absurd is perhaps my best cheap analysis. The layers of irony are too deepy nested to unpack. Not terrible, maybe genius, I don't know, I am just mostly confused.
Jun 28, 2012
75
The plot's problem is insoluble: There is no honest ending for Abe other than a completely undramatic continuation of the trapped life he has lived so far. So we get narrative disjunction and a limp conclusion instead of the brilliant reversal of formula that was promised.
Aug 3, 2012
63
As the blindered Abe, relative-unknown Gelber earns a sympathetic pat on the head. But as the character is braying for attention, he's stuck in his stall, while genuine dark horse Donna Murphy carries the narrative load as the middle-aged co-worker who prances into Abe's daydreams.
Jun 7, 2012
60
Abe's day-to-day trials may eventually seem like cheap daytime TV, but Gelber and Solondz know how to nail the uncomfortably funny optimism shadowing American desperation.
Jun 8, 2012
50
Result is far less abrasive than some of its predecessors, but for that very reason seems unlikely to generate the attention needed to meet Solondz's already modest commercial standards.
Jun 5, 2012
38
Yesterday, Solondz blocking the screen meant something, even if it was just his own petulance. Today, a blurred sign only signifies his capitulation to peer pressure.
Aug 13, 2017
6
This starts off like another of Solondz's satirical broadsides - meet Abe, the struggling son of a well-off Jewish family. He is a bit of a clown - still stuck in his teens for the most part, he works for his dad and lives with his parents. It looks like things may be about to change tho, when he meets a pretty neurotic named Marie - maybe this dark horse might win the race after all, or at least help us have a few laughs. Like another reviewer pointed out, this seems like it could be a parody of a comedy starring Seth Rogen. But this film changes shape as it grows, and becomes a more serious, and troubling, tale of frustration and failure. By the time you get to the end, your chuckles will have died out.
Jan 30, 2021
5
Really plays up the loveable loser angle but it just falls flat. A few funny moments but a rather ordinary affair.
Production Company:
- Double Hope Films
Release Date:Jun 8, 2012
Duration:1 h 26 m
Website:
Awards
Venice Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Village Voice Film Poll
• 1 Nomination
Abu Dhabi Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
