Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Child of God

Play trailer Poster for Child of God R 2014 1h 44m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
42% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 26% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In 1960s Tennessee, a violent loner (Scott Haze) loses his last vestige of humanity as he enters a downward spiral of madness, crime and degradation.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Child of God

Child of God

What to Know

Critics Consensus

An obviously reverent adaptation that fails to make a case for the source material being turned into a movie, Child of God finds director James Franco outmatched by Cormac McCarthy's novel.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Jonathan Romney Film Comment Magazine 09/15/2014
With Child of God, Franco has come up with something distinctive that both captures the atmosphere of McCarthy's neo-Gothic universe and suggests a consolidation on the director's As I Lay Dying. Go to Full Review
Alonso Duralde TheWrap 08/03/2014
Beautifully shot, well acted, and the score is lovely, but the film has nothing to say about the human degradation in which it wallows. If you're gonna make me smell dung for two hours, at least fertilize my lawn. Go to Full Review
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com 08/01/2014
There's no denying Franco's ambition, and in "Child of God" you can see evidence (almost for the first time) that he's reaching for something he may one day attain. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 08/30/2019
2.5/5
There's a captivating performance and a queasy ambience to the film that at least makes it a sober sort of hillbilly horror. Go to Full Review
Forrest Cardamenis The Film Stage 06/23/2016
B
Child of God toes the line between success and failure - but, ultimately, leans into success, and occasionally threatens to leap into it entirely. Go to Full Review
Mark Jackson Epoch Times 06/13/2016
3/5
Ultimately the movie's message is that community is sacred, all God's children should be cared for, and the destitute need a human net to save them from descent into madness. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
William B. @A1reviews 5d Almost a 4 star movie. It's pretty good it's pretty weird. Not for kids! The main actor is very good, plot excellent See more Trish K Oct 9 Extremely disturbed psychopath. You can see this type of character on the daily news, don't care to see it a movie. James Franco is a sick a**hole. See more Don S Apr 8 Great movie but definately not in the Hollywood mold. See more Ron R 08/02/2023 Sad and disgusting. No redeeming value that I can see. See more N L 06/24/2023 The guy takes a dump on camera. What else do we need in a movie? See more dave s 08/18/2021 James Franco has to be given credit for tackling adaptations of literary works that nobody else would consider touching, including Cormac McCarthy's Child of God. In the film, Lester Ballard (Scott Haze), a repugnant and merciless sociopath, roams the woods of rural Tennessee with a rifle in his hand and malice in his heart. The movie is worth watching for Haze's incendiary performance as the frightening Ballard, a man devoid of any human emotions other than blind rage. Franco's direction is, for the most part, effective, but he sometimes borders on pretentious with the inconsistent use of fades to end scenes and the number of close-ups of the barrels of guns and the barren branches of trees. It's a bit of a mixed bag but Haze's performance makes it worth watching. See more Read all reviews
Child of God

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Shadows and Lies 0% 21% Shadows and Lies Watchlist The Adderall Diaries 26% 25% The Adderall Diaries Watchlist TRAILER for The Adderall Diaries Road to Paloma 54% 54% Road to Paloma Watchlist The Suicide Theory 79% 69% The Suicide Theory Watchlist The World Made Straight 62% 47% The World Made Straight Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1960s Tennessee, a violent loner (Scott Haze) loses his last vestige of humanity as he enters a downward spiral of madness, crime and degradation.
Director
James Franco
Producer
Caroline Aragon, Vince Jolivette, Miles Levy
Screenwriter
James Franco, Vince Jolivette
Distributor
Well Go USA
Production Co
Rabbit Bandini Productions
Rating
R (Nudity|Language|Aberrant Sexual Content|Some Violence)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 1, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 27, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$37.9K
Runtime
1h 44m
Most Popular at Home Now