Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Experimenter

Play trailer Poster for Experimenter PG-13 2015 1h 37m Biography History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
85% Tomatometer 82 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Experimenter

Experimenter

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Led by a gripping performance from Peter Sarsgaard, Experimenter uses a fact-based story to pose thought-provoking questions about human nature.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
David Thomson Film Comment Magazine 11/06/2024
This movie seems a radical step for Almereyda, and more attentive to the nature of the medium than anything he has attempted before. Go to Full Review
Peter Keough Boston Globe 10/29/2015
3/4
Mostly playful if occasionally pretentious ... Go to Full Review
Matthew Lickona San Diego Reader 10/22/2015
1/5
There are a few feints at considerations of human nature, and a word is spoken in defense of obedience, but the film serves better to start a conversation than to draw a conclusion. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 05/06/2023
[Director Michael] Almereyda wants us to be aware that this is a fiction even as he explores the ideas with great intelligence and the life of Milgram with curiosity. Go to Full Review
Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine 01/23/2023
This career overview is the surface text of Experimenter, and it’s a fascinating one; what’s going on formally is even more interesting. Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 05/03/2022
3.5/4
The result may leave some viewers emotionally cold toward the material, but our intellect is engaged in the engrossing subject and the absorbing way it was made. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Horror fan 4 Feb 8 A very interesting story full of different experiences while volunteering to be part of behavioral experiments. A very well made movie with good performances. Tim Treakle See more j15j15j15 j 06/05/2024 ▣ https://band.us/band/89487216/post/12 @}>--->>* See more Diana S 05/17/2024 A low-key film on a timely subject. I found the asides to the camera a bit annoying by the end. Also, I don't find the question Milgram asked so confounding. I saw a video of wolves robotically howling in response to other wolves howling, and I thought it was a perfect parody of humans. We aren't solitary creatures. We want to play a role in a community, and that instinct most often usurps our gift of higher reasoning. See more Jerod S @jeroduptown 11/20/2023 Experimenter's subject is intriguing even if its delivery is rightfully dry. Not sure how else social experiments could have been made into a more effective or compelling movie... See more Gareth v 06/23/2023 A solid telling of one of the most infamous pyschological studies ever conducted. See more Taylor L 01/30/2023 Back when he had hair, Peter Sarsgaard seemed like the dramatic version of Joel McHale to me. Don't know if it was the slightly similar voices or what. Experimenter is a biopic focusing on social psychologist Stanley Milgram, the famous and somewhat controversial organizer of experiments dealing in human obedience, which drew parallels to the choices made by thousands of supposedly reasonable people as they participated in atrocities such as the Holocaust. The film follows the creation of the original Milgram protocols, the responses to them by researchers and the public, and Milgram's own later work, told in a fourth-wall-breaking format that sees Milgram (Sarsgaard) frequently narrating his own experiences or speaking directly to the audience. The film gives particular priority to discussing the implications of the psychologist's work, and the unsettling notion that most people value conformity over compassion. As a discussion of the experiments themselves, Experimenter is pretty well done and Sarsgaard feels well-cast, though the meta elements (an elephant following him around intermittently, an 'elephant in the room'?) and the intentionally distant, academic dialogue may seem to be more alienating than insightful; for all the posturing, there isn't much more said beyond 'humans can behave far worse than we might like to admit'. Winona Ryder's character sort of slips into the background, and an interesting take on Milgram - where at points people around him can't tell whether he's being sincere or subjecting them to a social experiment - is never expanded upon. Dennis Haysbert gets dressed up in an Einstein wig, though. (3/5) See more Read all reviews
Experimenter

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Tesla 58% 43% Tesla Watchlist TRAILER for Tesla The Man Who Knew Infinity 62% 71% The Man Who Knew Infinity Watchlist TRAILER for The Man Who Knew Infinity Hitchcock 59% 60% Hitchcock Watchlist Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 61% 68% Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Watchlist Marshall 80% 84% Marshall Watchlist TRAILER for Marshall Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.
Director
Michael Almereyda
Producer
Michael Almereyda, Fabio Golombek, Aimee Schoof, Isen Robbins, Danny A. Abeckaser, Per Melita
Screenwriter
Michael Almereyda
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Jeff Rice Films, Intrinsic Value Films, FJ Productions, BB Film Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Thematic Material|Brief Strong Language)
Genre
Biography, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 16, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 5, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$155.1K
Runtime
1h 37m
Most Popular at Home Now