A young woman rides through a snowstorm with her boyfriend to meet his parents, and nothing about the evening stays put. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is Charlie Kaufman's loose adaptation of Iain Reid's 2016 novel, starring Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons, with Toni Collette and David Thewlis as the parents. It landed on Netflix in September 2020, and critics mostly admired it, with Rotten Tomatoes counting 82% of reviews as positive and Metacritic averaging 78. Nearly all of them warned that it isn't for everyone.
What critics loved
The cast came first. David Ehrlich at IndieWire declared "This is Buckley's show", and Barry Hertz at the Globe and Mail praised the emotional depth of her performance. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney called Plemons the heir apparent to Philip Seymour Hoffman, while What to Watch's Leigh Monson thought Collette and Thewlis stole the show, and Little White Lies' Hannah Woodhead singled out a Thewlis line reading as one of the year's best.
The craft won big praise too. Ehrlich described it as a thought that has been filmed, crediting Jay Wadley's score and Molly Hughes's production design. Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com admired its boxy 4:3 cinematography, and Justin Chang at the Los Angeles Times urged viewers to watch the editing, costumes and sound closely. Chris Evangelista at /Film found Kaufman at the top of his game, and Fresh Fiction's James Clay called it his best film yet as a director.
Where critics split
The sticking point was how hard it is to sit through. Rooney called it frequently a hard slog, and ScreenCrush's Matt Singer, a Kaufman fan, said it left him colder than anything since Human Nature. Steve Pond at TheWrap loved it but warned it may not make sense to anyone who hasn't read the book. TIME's Stephanie Zacharek found it tedious, and the Detroit News' Adam Graham praised the leads but called the plot an unsolvable riddle. Polygon's Karen Han was frustrated by the lack of answers but still won over by the characters.
The consensus
Critics treated this as superb, deliberate filmmaking, with remarkable performances and a precise look and sound, which is why QC sits near the top. Fun lands well below that. Even its champions described a bleak, puzzling, intentionally uncomfortable film that rewards patience and rewatching rather than offering an easy night in. The Film Stage's Orla Smith summed it up: it will divide people, but nobody will forget it.
Sources
- Rotten Tomatoes: I'm Thinking of Ending Things first reviews (IndieWire, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Empire, Guardian, Globe and Mail, ScreenCrush, TheWrap, Little White Lies, What to Watch, Fresh Fiction)
- Metacritic: I'm Thinking of Ending Things critic reviews (IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, BBC, The Telegraph, Screen Daily, /Film, The Film Stage, The A.V. Club)
- Wikipedia: I'm Thinking of Ending Things, critical response (Polygon, RogerEbert.com, The Observer, Detroit News, TIME)