Review Roundup: Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart Bring the Action in AMERICAN ULTRA

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart star in the new action-comedy film AMERICAN ULTRA.

AMERICAN ULTRA follows the story of Mike (Eisenberg), an unmotived and lackadaisical stoner, and his girlfiend Phobe (Stewart) whose lives get turned upside down. Mike is not aware that he is actually a highly trained and dangerous sleeper agent; therefore, when his past returns to haunt him, the once hapless stoner is required to bring out his inner action hero in order to survive.

AMERICAN ULTRA was directed by Nima Nourizadeh and written by Max Landis and additionally stars Topher Grace, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins and Tony Hale.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times: A lethal-weapon character who doesn't realize his powers until a crisis brings them out - you've seen the conceit before, and you'll see it again if you watch the new NBC series "Blindspot" next month. That's a problem with "American Ultra": a lot of it seems familiar, and Mr. Eisenberg and Ms. Stewart aren't stretched much. But Mike finds amusing ways to defend himself using ordinary household items, Walton Goggins and John Leguizamo enliven things in goofy small roles, the plot has a nice twist or two, and your theater is probably air-conditioned.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: American Ultra opens nice and easy, with stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristin Stewart, reteaming after 2009's Adventureland, dishing out a winning slacker romance. Then, boom, the movie is taken over by the demon seed of Michael-Bay-ish adrenaline pumping. And the blood. Oh, the blood.

Andrew Barker, Variety: In a summer film slate awash with reboots, sequels and dutifully box-checking superhero product, it's refreshing to see a genre film made from a completely original screenplay. Yet "American Ultra," a stoner action-comedy directed by Nima Nourizadeh from a script by Max Landis, too often plays like an earnest yet unsatisfying adaptation of a cult graphic novel, with most of the charm lost in translation. Full of clever ideas, bloody violence so cartoonish that it's almost cuddly, and an eminently likable leading pair in Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, the film has a lot going for it but, like a fridge-clearing omelet prepared after too many bong hits, it can't manage to cook all these goodies into a palatable whole. Box office should be modest, though more couch-bound demographics may well embrace it on homevid.

Michael O'Sullivan, The Washington Post: "American Ultra" has a clever premise. But it misses several opportunities to at least comment on, if not skewer, the spy movies that it only halfheartedly pokes fun at. As it is, it's content to generate a low-grade buzz, rather than deliver a true high.

Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian: Unfortunately both Eisenberg and Stewart, both frequently brilliant, are on unsure footing here. The movie simply doesn't know if it wants to be Jason Bourne or Cheech and Chong. A few comic throwaways work (few mutter quite like Eisenberg) but the thriller side of the picture is airless, as is the love story. There's also a coda completely at odds with the thesis of the film, which I will not spoil, but leads me to wonder why we're suddenly supposed to cheer for an organization we've been rooting against the whole time. Ultimately, American Ultra proves that it's often best to let sleeping agents lie.

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Like its shaggy protagonist (Jesse Eisenberg), much of "American Ultra" is half-baked. What begins as a clever action-comedy a la "Pineapple Express" or Eisenberg's earlier "Zombieland" devolves into a standard shoot-'em-up, with gore splashed around to distract us from the dearth of wit.

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: "American Ultra" is an American-style movie that needed more ultra. This stoners-meet-government-assassins mashup is as meandering and paranoid as a guy toking up in front of City Hall. Sometimes that's amusing, but most of the time it's tiring. The only way to roll with it is to appreciate Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, who feel twitchy as this skittish movie goes from loving 420 to loving the action series "24."

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: Still, the movie is a fun mess, and Eisenberg and Stewart, who last costarred in the understated 2009 indie Adventureland, make for unlikely but endearing (anti-)heroes; they're Bonnie and Clyde with a water bong, an extra-high body count, and some kind of moral compass (albeit a spinning one) at the center. Topher Grace, as bright-eyed as a Boy Scout, proves once again that he's excellent at putting an aw-shucks face on sociopathy, and the whole thing wraps in just over 90 wham-bam minutes. American Ultra probably won't win any awards that don't come from Spike TV or Soldier of Fortune, but it's August, not Oscar season; check your brain at the popcorn-butter pump in the lobby and enjoy it.

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Even with its tight running time, American Ultra starts spinning its wheels well before the climax, although it's entirely possible that being in an altered state while watching this will keep the target audience giggling at the repetitive antics all the way to the end. As it is, there are incidental pleasures to be had simply in observing the generally more serious-minded Eisenberg and Stewart slumming in a project that's dopey in more ways than one and not caring how unkempt, slovenly and un-movie-starish they look and behave. The most creative and witty part of the entire film may well be the animated end credits, which have a bracing panache mostly absent from what's come before.

Zaki Hasan, Huffington Post: Arriving very near the tail end of summer movie season, American Ultra probably ends up benefiting more than it should from the inevitable lowered expectations that come from its particular positioning on the release calendar. As these kind of stoner comedies go, it ends up being kind of a welcome chaser to this summer's spate of cinematic spycraft. As these things go, it's makes for a breezy enough diversion (albeit, an insanely violent diversion) that does some clever things with its core conceit. Not necessarily "ultra," but okay.

Photo Credit: Official Facebook

To post a comment, you must register and login.