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The Beta Test

2021

Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe

Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris ...

5.0

843

Horror. Thriller A married Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, infidelity, and digital data.

	Media	Author	Review
		Wendy Ide Screendaily	"This enjoyably lurid techno-thriller flirts with horror tropes (...) But the real savagery is reserved for the movie industry: it’s a brutally unflattering satire"
		John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"Exploring the varieties of volatile awkwardness and desperation, [Cummings] plays a well-known type (...) while making the character unlike any we’ve seen."
		Owen Gleiberman Variety	"The film’s elements don’t mesh as seamlessly as they should have (...) ['The Beta Test'] is almost too ambitious (...) Yet the movie, at its best, holds you in its grip."
		Rodrigo Perez The Playlist	[A] clever and multi-layered film"
		Michael Frank The Film Stage	"The Beta Test Works Better as Comedic Commentary Than Thriller (...) If one can get past the exaggerated nature of The Beta Test, there’s much to glean from its mixture of laughs and critiques"
		Leslie Felperin The Guardian	"[It] is part delicious satire of Hollywood culture and part frustratingly muddled thriller. But the good bits are sufficiently impressive it wouldn't be fair to hold its flaws against it too much (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Jordan King Empire	"Whilst occasionally breathless to the point of exhausting, there’s nothing second-rate about 'The Beta Test', a sharp satire on the film industry that really packs a punch (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"A Lynchian Hollywood satire (...) Cummings’ performance adds a key measure of consistency"
		Chuck Bowen Slant	"Cummings and McCabe fashion a livewire thriller-slash-parable, dashed with audacious elements of farce (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Elizabeth Weitzman The Wrap	"It feels like two films mashed together —a shaky thriller set inside an incisive and genuinely disturbing industry satire. But as filmmakers, they've made a pretty strong case for a viable alternative"
		John Serba Decider	"'The Beta Test' doesn't quite come together as a fully realized thriller or satire. But it's a work inspiring odd fascination, Cummings keeping us off-balance with his performance and a bevy of provocative ideas"
		Ferdosa Abdi Screen Rant	"Anchored by a charismatic performance from Cummings, 'The Beta Test' is at times ridiculous, but it is a thoroughly entertaining and insightful satire (...) It is surely something worth watching (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

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