Digging for Fire

Play trailer

2:15

Digging for Fire

R

Released Aug 21, 2015

1h 23m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

70 Reviews

41%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A house sitter (Jake Johnson) becomes an amateur sleuth after finding a bone and a gun on the property.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Digging for Fire finds director/co-writer Joe Swanberg working from a familiar palette, but in ways that suggest he's taking new and exciting strides as a filmmaker.

Read Critics Reviews

Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

The size of that ensemble and Swanberg's particular way of sorta hazily drifting from one half-overheard conversation to the next gives the picture a Robert Altman vibe that's never really been present in his work before.

May 30, 2016

Full Review

Wesley Morris

Grantland

The movie has been dedicated to Paul Mazursky, the great radiologist of American social interplay who died last year. But Swanberg is still murmuring where Mazursky could speechify, gesticulate, and shout, sometimes in the same sequence.

Sep 11, 2015

Full Review

Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

Conversations drift and weave, as do the people having them. Narcissistic melancholy dukes it out with beer-and-pot-stoked merriment. There is longing. There is foolhardiness.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 27, 2015

Full Review

Don Shanahan

Every Movie Has a Lesson

Either it's fresh and interesting enough to keep you guessing or it's maddeningly lost and too unstructured for not really coming to a conclusion or making a point in the end.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 7, 2024

Full Review

Leo Brady

AMovieGuy.com

Digging for Fire is Swanberg's best film to date. I enjoyed finding what's buried beneath his style.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 31, 2021

Full Review

Filipe Freitas

Always Good Movies

The frivolous blend of ludicrous mystery and tepid romance offered in Digging For Fire got me quickly bored.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 2, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Tim M

Why is this listed as a Thriller? It's a snooze fest, nothing thrilling about it whatsoever

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/19/22

Full Review

Audience Member

A slight returning to the well for director Joe Swanberg in that this movie does a very similar thing to his movie Drinking Buddies. It addresses the subtle cracks in relationships that continue to expand over time. Unfortunately, by comparison Digging for Fire feels mundane and almost useless. It has a great ensemble cast but they have nothing to do and certainly very little that is interesting to say. It feels pretty manufactured despite its core messages being fairly resounding.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I liked the vibe and the cast, but it's not that cohesive of a movie and certainly not a "mystery/thriller" as it is listed here. It's more of a light indie comedy/drama.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not sure why this scored so low on Rotten Tomatoes... feel like i saw a different movie to whoever scored it low? It's a great indie, was unpredictable, some funny bits, felt very real and honest. It's not trying to be anything. An intriguing story about a certain point in your life when you're young parents and trying to figure out your life - which I'm leading up to now, so maybe that's why i related and got so much from it. In a nut shell: About relationships yet about individuals; Fun yet serious; Comedic yet emotional; Adventurous yet down to earth.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

steve d

Nothing interesting going on and the entire cast has nothing to do. A completely forgettable film.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

camille l

Digging For Fire ressemble exactement à ce qu'on peut attendre d'une nouvelle collaboration entre Joe Swanberg et Jake Johnson. Totalement improvisé, parfois très nombriliste, avec des personnages insupportables qui se comportent comme des égoïstes geignards, Digging for Fire est pourtant une nouvelle preuve que ces deux hommes fonctionnent parfaitement ensemble. Cela ne raconte rien, mais c'est tout à fait passionnant, surtout grâce à des interprétations de grande classe comme Sam Rockwell, Mike Birbiglia et surtout Jake Johnson himself en très grande forme. Cela n'attirera pas de nouveaux fans pour Swanberg mais ne décevra pas les déjà présents.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Joe Swanberg

Director

Jake Johnson

Tim

Rosemarie DeWitt

Lee

Orlando Bloom

Ben

Brie Larson

Max

Sam Rockwell

Ray

Cold in July

84%

67%

Cold in July

Watchlist

Sleight

81%

52%

Sleight

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Sleight

Meskada

33%

29%

Meskada

Watchlist

Elle

91%

73%

Elle

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Elle

Sweet Virginia

79%

61%

Sweet Virginia

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Digging For Fire: Trailer 1

2:15

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

A house sitter (Jake Johnson) becomes an amateur sleuth after finding a bone and a gun on the property.

Director: Joe Swanberg
Producer: Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson, Alicia Van Couvering
Screenwriter: Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson
Distributor: The Orchard
Production Co: Garrett Motion Pictures
Rating: R (Drug Use|Brief Graphic Nudity|Language|Some Sexual References)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 21, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 25, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $119.4K
Runtime: 1h 23m

Most Popular at Home Now