Rotten Tomatoes
Submit search Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Survival Skills

Play trailer Poster for Survival Skills 2020 1h 24m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
88% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 56% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A seemingly perfect policeman lands in over his head when he tries to resolve a case of domestic violence.
Watch on Fandango Stream Now

Where to Watch

Survival Skills

Survival Skills

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Led by a strong starring performance from Vayu O'Donnell, Survival Skills takes a singularly strange -- but mostly satisfying -- look at law enforcement.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News Dec 4, 2020
3.5/4
A head trip that shoots off into unexpected and topical directions. Go to Full Review Mark Hanson Slant Magazine Nov 29, 2020
2.5/4
Survival Skills feels like something you'd stumble upon on Adult Swim circa 2014, sandwiched between Too Many Cooks and reruns of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Go to Full Review Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle Nov 10, 2020
3/5
None of this would work without a stunning and nuanced performance by O'Donnell. Go to Full Review C.H. Newell Father Son Holy Gore Nov 22, 2022
3.5/5
Survival Skills is a story about how even a so-called ‘good cop’ can’t do the right thing when they want to because the system was never designed to work for the most vulnerable in the first place. Go to Full Review Steven Warner In Review Online Jun 5, 2021
Armstrong has an ace up his sleeve in the film's final ten minutes, removing a lot of the inherent, palate-deadening bitterness in the process. Go to Full Review Jonathan DeHaan Nightmare on Film Street Mar 1, 2021
9/10
Quinn Armstrong perfectly recreates the feeling of an over-produced (half-baked) instructional video that thinks the world's complicated problems are as simple as programming a Toshiba VCR Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
dave d @RT34924333 Feb 11, 2022 'Survival Skills' is one of the most self-aware films I've ever seen, but it was the lack of comedic heft and tonal changes that make this sloppy and forgettable. For a film that is trying so hard to be unique, you'd think writer and director Quinn Armstrong would have stayed in the mockumentary lane as opposed to the family drama one. Fantastic to see Stacy Keach as the Narrator who is voicing an 80s cop training film. The movie is supposed to feel and look like it's fresh out of the late 80s and it succeeds with that, but the novel concept becomes annoying as the film meanders. The style is original, but gets old fast and drags on. When actors are talking about what role they are playing it becomes nails on a chalkboard. Final Score: 3.8/10 See more Dec 11, 2020 A lot more style over substance in this movie 3.3 See more Read all reviews
Survival Skills

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING

Cast & Crew

View All

Quinn Armstrong

Director

Vayu O'Donnell

Jim Williams

Ericka Kreutz

Allison Lohmann

Emily Chisholm

Leah Jenning

Stacy Keach

The Narrator

Spencer Garrett

The Chief

More Like This

View All
Book Week 83% % Book Week Watchlist The Planters 94% 80% The Planters Watchlist TRAILER for The Planters The Kid Detective 85% 76% The Kid Detective Watchlist TRAILER for The Kid Detective France 67% 36% France Watchlist TRAILER for France Nice Girls % % Nice Girls Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Survival Skills

Survival Skills (2020) Survival Skills (2020) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A seemingly perfect policeman lands in over his head when he tries to resolve a case of domestic violence.
Director
Quinn Armstrong
Producer
Michael Orion Downing, Colin West
Screenwriter
Quinn Armstrong
Distributor
Cranked Up Films
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 13, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 4, 2020
Runtime
1h 24m
Join The Newsletter Join The Newsletter Cookie Settings