"A compelling work that often defies convention, The Smashing Machine is a revelation."
— Courtney Small, That Shelf
"Supporting performances from real UFC legends and a Kerr cameo add to the palpable naturalism of this sweat fest, which aims for the heart rather than the head."
— Peter Howell, Toronto Star
"The Smashing Machine is an unexpectedly gentle, soulful character study that has Johnson undercutting his crowd-pleasing ‘The Rock’ persona with vulnerability and boyish uncertainty."
— Philip De Semlyen, Time Out
"A tremendous piece of directing and acting working together to remind us that beyond the glamour and showmanship, Dwayne Johnson is a bonafide actor waiting to break out of his shell."
— Joonatan Itkonen, Toisto.net
"This is the most raw and vulnerable that Johnson has ever been on screen. Once you’ve seen him this exposed, you won’t watch his typical action movie stunts in quite the same way ever again."
— Geoffrey Macnab, Independent (UK)
"It’s a film that feels gloriously alive, earnest in its depiction of masculinity that is fragile rather than toxic while still grappling with the question of why anyone would choose to make a living in such a barbaric way."
— Hannah Strong, Little White Lies
"The very believable winding back of the clock to when MMA wasn’t nearly as huge as it is now allows Johnson, one of the world’s most famous men, to disappear enough that we mostly forget it’s The Rock up there."
— Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
"Safdie’s film is rather a sweet duet between a remarkably unembellished Johnson and a blazingly good, blue-collar and freshly blown-out Emily Blunt as his codependent girlfriend and eventual wife Dawn Staples-Kerr."
— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
"Both Safdie and Johnson are doing something new here and succeeding well, and audiences should hope to see more of this terrific work from both of them in the future, though, given its impact, this is likely the defining role of Johnson’s (acting) career."
— Abe Friedtanzer, Awards Buzz
