Survival Skills

Play trailer

Survival Skills

Released Nov 13, 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 at Home

Buy Now

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

Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

A head trip that shoots off into unexpected and topical directions.

Rated: 3.5/4

Dec 4, 2020

Full Review

Mark Hanson

Slant Magazine

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!

Rated: 2.5/4

Nov 29, 2020

Full Review

Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

None of this would work without a stunning and nuanced performance by O'Donnell.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 10, 2020

Full Review

C.H. Newell

Father Son Holy Gore

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.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 22, 2022

Full Review

Steven Warner

In Review Online

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.

Jun 5, 2021

Full Review

Jonathan DeHaan

Nightmare on Film Street

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

Rated: 9/10

Mar 1, 2021

Full Review

Read all reviews

dave d

'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

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A lot more style over substance in this movie 3.3

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/11/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Truly absurd but tragic in its own way, telling a story that doesn´t go the direction of silly jokes, but a rather confronting story about abuse, regret and dealing with the issues of the job.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Quinn Armstrong

Director

Vayu O'Donnell

Jim Williams

Ericka Kreutz

Allison Lohmann

Emily Chisholm

Leah Jenning

Stacy Keach

The Narrator

Spencer Garrett

The Chief

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Book Week

83%

%

Book Week

Watchlist

The Planters

94%

77%

The Planters

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Planters

The Kid Detective

85%

77%

The Kid Detective

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Kid Detective

France

67%

35%

France

Watchlist

TRAILER

for France

Nice Girls

%

%

Nice Girls

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

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

Most Popular at Home Now