Dark Horse

Released Jun 8, 2012

1 hr. 25 min.

Drama

List

70%

79 Reviews

Tomatometer

41%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

An odd romance blooms between a chronic underachiever (Jordan Gelber) and a depressed woman (Selma Blair) who has still not recovered from a previous failed relationship.

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Critics Consensus

Typically misanthropic yet curiously satisfying and incisive, Dark Horse is a movie that preaches to the cynical converted.

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Gareth v

Really plays up the loveable loser angle but it just falls flat. A few funny moments but a rather ordinary affair.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/23

Full Review

JEANNE K

Possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/02/23

Full Review

Sean M

Started off okay, but then got very uninteresting. The film lost me during the last 20 minutes. Basically some stuff happens and then he dies.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/03/23

Full Review

cinephile f

Wow... what a dark and profound morality tale. This is the final of all Todd Soldonz's films that I have watched (except his very first one) and this was definitely one of my favorites. I found myself really shocked by the writing and acting of the protagonist. It is like the director held a mirror to our current culture to show what we are like. Recommend!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Abe wasn’t a lovable loser, he was just a loser. He never gets on track, everything that could go wrong does and it’s then it’s over. The film is way to loose in the long drawn out dream sequences to be cohesive but it’s a watchable albeit flawed movie.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

08/14/22

Full Review

dave s

Whether you love them or hate them, there is never mistaking a Todd Solondz film for anything other than a Todd Solondz film. Offbeat characters that roam through life in a daze, bone dry humor with perfectly framed and blocked shots, his style is distinct and Dark Horse is no exception. Abe (Jordan Gelber) is a thirty-five-year-old man-child living at home with his parents (Mia Farrow, Christopher Walken). After one date with a morose woman (Selma Blair) he met at a wedding, he decides that the only appropriate course of action is a wedding proposal, which sets off a tragic chain of events. It's bleak and it's dire and, despite the fact that the last act seems overplayed, Solondz somehow makes you care about characters that you have no right caring about.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Todd Solondz

Director

Justin Bartha

Richard

Selma Blair

Miranda

Mia Farrow

Phyllis

Jordan Gelber

Abe

Donna Murphy

Marie

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J. Hoberman

Tablet

An exercise in compassionate misanthropy.

May 3, 2016

Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

It would be unfair and patronizing to say that Solondz needs to grow up, but "Dark Horse" suggests that it's time for the bard of bourgeois hypocrisy to consider moving on.

Rated: 2/4

Aug 17, 2012

Full Review

Mark Feeney

Boston Globe

Solondz has made a career out of specializing in highly aberrant views of middle-class life.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 9, 2012

Full Review

Jason Adams

My New Plaid Pants

This movie feels like a culmination of sorts - it spins right off into extended fantasy for long periods of time, allowing us right inside the sordid funny and downright depressing fantasy life of Abe, king of the losers

Jul 14, 2021

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

While this may not be Solondz's strongest piece, it may very well fit the bill as a dark horse in his filmography.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jun 27, 2019

Full Review

Jo-Ann Titmarsh

CineVue

Though Dark Horse offers plenty of laughs, in no way is this a film in the wake of Hollywood man-child comedies... There's no easy resolution to Abe's situation and the audience is not really rooting for him to get the girl and the happy ending.

Rated: 3/5

May 30, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

An odd romance blooms between a chronic underachiever (Jordan Gelber) and a depressed woman (Selma Blair) who has still not recovered from a previous failed relationship.

Director: Todd Solondz
Executive Producer: Nick Quested
Screenwriter: Todd Solondz
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Production Co: Double Hope Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 8, 2012, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 13, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.0M

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