Experimenter

PG-13

Released Oct 16, 2015

1 hr. 37 min.

Biography

History

Drama

List

85%

82 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.

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Critics Consensus

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

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Jerod S

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...

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/20/23

Full Review

Gareth v

A solid telling of one of the most infamous pyschological studies ever conducted.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/23/23

Full Review

Taylor L

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)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

steve d

Intense, well acted, scary, and thought provoking.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Pretty good stuff here. I love Sarsgaard anyway, and he fits this role really well. I'm not at all surprised with the reactions Milgram's work got. People really like to think the best of themselves and others, except, of course, for those they want to think little of, or even the worst of. Oh, but not themselves (though I'm clearly leaving out those with abysmal self-image). Gaffigan was fairly Gaffigan, but he got the job done. Leguizamo has a nice cameo as one of the study subjects. Edwards and Yelchin are fine in the same position. Dennis Haysbert makes a good Ossie Davis, though it is kinda funny. But Lutz is a lousy Shatner. Speaking of Shatner, Betty White just.....And no, that's not Daryl Hannah but the long lost Lori Singer. Ryder was disappointing for me. Seemed to phone this one in. I generally dislike the whole obvious breaking the fourth wall, talking straight to the audience thing. Seems contrived, cheesy, hammy often. But I can see how it can be used for exposition, and can be a way of bringing in comedy, too. But I think here director Almereyda was going for a theater stage context, which works with the hand-drawn type backdrops that are used at times. I wonder if the 'playfulness', as some reviewers call it, is there to offset the disturbing experiment results, the Eichmann/Nazi/Pogrom material. It does detract from the film, imo. Let it be what it is. Very heavy, heady subject matter here, and it was handled well in a film context. And yes, I got the elephant in the room. 3 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I was highly disappointed with this movie. I thought this would be more about Milgram's experiments than his personal life, but I was unfortunately wrong. The parts that did recount the experiments were interesting, but I don't feel it got the attention it deserved. The film tried to be too "artsy" and cool, and was just weird in parts. I found it very boring. I seriously considered turning it off. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time with this film.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

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Michael Almereyda

Director

Peter Sarsgaard

Stanley Milgram

Winona Ryder

Sasha Menkin Milgram

Dennis Haysbert

Ossie Davis

Jim Gaffigan

James McDonough

Taryn Manning

Mrs. Lowe

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Peter Keough

Boston Globe

Mostly playful if occasionally pretentious ...

Rated: 3/4

Oct 29, 2015

Full Review

Matthew Lickona

San Diego Reader

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.

Rated: 1/5

Oct 22, 2015

Full Review

John Anderson

Newsday

Fascinating work by Michael Almereyda, a mix of audacious artifice, ruminations and reality.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 22, 2015

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

[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.

May 6, 2023

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

This career overview is the surface text of Experimenter, and it’s a fascinating one; what’s going on formally is even more interesting.

Jan 23, 2023

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

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.

Rated: 3.5/4

May 3, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.

Director: Michael Almereyda
Executive Producer: Jeff Rice, Cláudio Szajman, Rogerio Ferezini, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Trevor Crafts, Lee Broda, Mark Myers
Screenwriter: Michael Almereyda
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Jeff Rice Films, BB Film Productions, Intrinsic Value Films, FJ 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

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