SummaryWoody Harrelson plays a small-timer suckered into a fake kidnapping plot and facing hard time if he can't untangle a mystery involving three women (Shue, Gershon, Sevigny), false identities, cold corpses and assorted clues framing him. (Warner Home Video)
Directed By:Volker Schlöndorff
Written By:James Hadley Chase, E. Max Frye
Palmetto
Metascore
Mixed or Average
43
User score
Generally Favorable
6.7
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
43
10% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
80% Mixed
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
10% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
83
Palmetto has a satisfyingly deceptive plot that ultimately takes one too many turns.
50
Palmetto follows the rules of film noir so slavishly that it's tough not to like it just on its own dopey, headstrong merit.
50
The script, based on British pulp writer James Hadley Chase's novel "Just Another Sucker," is a muddle, and no actors, no matter how compelling or talented, could make its silly dialogue work.
50
What begins as a lush, pulpy gothic laced with intrigue quickly spins into a convoluted web of over engineered and preposterous plot twists.
40
Surprises are reserved for the final half-hour, at which point the slow-paced Palmetto has long since fossilized as a routine exercise in ceiling-fan, sweaty-forehead noir-by-numbers.
40
It's been said that a thriller is only as good as its chief villain, and, in the same way, most noirs are only as good as their suckers. Palmetto has a good sucker but not much else.
20
Revelations of betrayals, faked identities and double-crosses come in waves in the last half-hour of Palmetto, but by then, the film has raised the one question it can't answer: Who cares?
User score
Generally Favorable
6.7
53% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
40% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
May 20, 2026
0
Mais pourquoi j’ai regardé ce truc-là, moi ? ou plutôt tenté de regarder seulement… ah oui, y a Elizabeth Shue dedans… très belle en effet ! et puis, Gina Gershon aussi, très mignonne. En plus, c’est une féministe, elle porte jamais de soutif, Gina. Et y a aussi Woody Harrelson qui fait le tocard de service, tout juste sorti de prison… et se retrouve embringué dans une histoire bidon qui déborde de clichés dans tous les sens. Oh et attends, y a aussi la mignonne Chloe Sevigny, oui, oui. Et Michael Rapaport… mais dans un tout petit rôle… dans le rebondissement bidon de la fin en fait… putain franchement, ils nous prennent pour des jambons ou quoi dans ce film en carton ? faut dire aussi que c’est signé Volker Schlöndorff, un réalisateur allemand qui a surtout réalisé des daubes ! ceci expliquant cela, oui en effet… Donc, malgré la belle distribution, rien ne va là-dedans : tout est bancal et de travers et tout se traîne lamentablement. D’ailleurs, même en avance rapide standard, je m’endormissais : j’ai atteint la fin péniblement… ou même pas en fait. J’ai éteint la télé.
Production Company:
- Castle Rock Entertainment
- Code Entertainment
- Columbia Pictures
- Rialto Film
Release Date:Feb 20, 1998
Duration:1 h 54 m
Rating:R
Tagline:In a town this bad, it's hard to be good...
