American Ultra (2015)

A stoner and his girlfriend's sleepy, small-town existence is disrupted when his past comes back to haunt him in the form of a government operation set to wipe him out. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Nima Nourizadeh
Written By: Max Landis
Starring: John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Walton Goggins, Kristen Stewart, Tony Hale, Jesse Eisenberg, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Nash Edgerton, Monique Ganderton, Michael Papajohn, Stuart Greer
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Action
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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American Ultra belongs to 9 collections
1. CIA (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 6 stars)
2. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
3. Amnesiac spy (collaborative: moderated by djross)
4. Non Masculine Leads (collaborative: moderated by itsben)
5. Project MKUltra (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)
6. Movies I've Seen In Theaters (public: SirStuckey)
7. seen in 2017 (public: sproost)
8. Hulu (public: Jason212)
9. Jona cdtjes (public: medium123)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
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Paxton | 69 56th |
The Bourne Identity by way of Pineapple Express. It's an obvious propaganda piece created by those that still cling to the notion that peace loving stoners are really government trained assassins. Wait a minute. Only stoners would be paranoid enough to think stoners could be government trained assassins. But then who made this movie?
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BillyShears | 75 65th |
Kristen Stewart is hot as hell all beaten up. "What the hell are you doing brain"
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Obdurate | 80 66th |
I liked this a lot more than others it seems. I liked the tone shifting, and the way in which it mashes together its two genres. It isn't wholly original as a comedy or an action movie, but the way in which it balances both is rather unique. It's hard to be bored here, and the comedy worked for me. I also felt that the fight scenes were more inspired than a lot of the bland shit we get.
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TheDenizen | 50 26th |
A stoner slacker in a quiet little town turns out to be a CIA sleeper agent. Jesse Eisenberg is at his mewly, obnoxious worst throughout most of this film that clearly and desperately wants to exist in the same space as Pineapple Express. Sadly, most of the action is lackluster and most of the jokes aren't that funny. Topher Grace's villain is a one note cartoon. The only thing this has going for it is a couple of entertaining bit parts for Goggins and Leguizamo.
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Hofschneider | 69 27th |
This could've been in the league of Zombieland or Cabin In The Woods, but the problem of this movie are his action-scenes, who are way to conventional. And that sucks the life out of this could've-been-a-lot-of-fun-flick. And instead I wonder about stuff like logic (urgh!), flat supporting characters (T. Grace) or annoying, useless cameos (B. Pullman). And I don't want to do that in a movie like this.
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CloseFriend | 33 7th |
I don't know how this movie got classified an action-comedy. The "comedy" consists of Jesse Eisenberg either hemming and hawing or doing that Michael Cera under-reacting shtick. The "action" consists of him randomly killing people in action scenes that have no escalation or sense of back-and-forth. The movie over-relies on its romantic subplot, but that amounts to the same scene repeatedly: Eisenberg's character panics and Stewart's calms him down, never mentioning (or having) her own needs.
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recklessmess | 72 52nd |
Why does a movie like this bomb, yet Transformers: Age of your Asshole is a box office smash? Sure this movie wasn't *great*, but it had its moments. Maybe, instead of Topher Grace, you have Rob Schneider in his highly offensive "weird foreign guy" shtick as the bad guy? If anything, I'd have gotten to see Rob Schneider summarily executed, which is always good.
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Okkervil | 50 38th |
It's entertaining whilst it lasts no doubt, but the mountains of squandered potential seep out of every scene. Lazy plot devices and clunky writing do it no favours, and there's no dramatic tension or real laughs to speak of. But Stewart and Eisenberg do work pretty well together and the whole thing bumbles along nicely to its unexceptionally acceptable conclusion. Not one to that will linger in the memory, but fine enough I guess.
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AAAutin | 53 54th |
(THE WEEDQUALIZER)
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guy piranha | 40 12th |
forced myself through this, having read max landis' twitter rant about how nobody appreciated "big level original ideas". while i sort of share his enthusiasm to bitch about creativity and boldness in current filmmaking, this movie is possibly the worst way to stress his argument. because this once, the infamous scales of justice worked just fine. american ultra is simply bad, and that's why it bombed.
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eCitizen | 70 70th |
A strange mix of a dystopian government program, a unlikely love story, a stoner super hero and lots of violent action. Kristen Stewart was terrific. Jesse Eisenberg was not very convincing as a bad ass super warrior. Walton Goggins stunk it up like always. Topher Grace was an awful choice. Despite the many negatives, I enjoyed this crazy, frequently idiotic movie. Almost nothing was believable. Great music. It was just kooky and exciting enough to be fun to watch.
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antidood1 | 55 24th |
Occasionally entertaining on a superficial level. However, this movie seems to have an ambition for additional depth and a little character development, and it simply doesn't deliver. This movie proves that, no, Topher Grace still can't be menacing, and the two leads are similarly hard to take seriously. The action is mostly forgettable, as well as the comedy, but overall there's at least some easy fun to be had here.
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Pickpocket | 2 21st |
It tries to be like 4 movies in one but doesn't do any particularly well. The romance is awkward, cringey, and completely unbelievable. The action is very by the numbers and nothing you haven't seen before. The stoner aspect of it is lazy and uninspired. The comedy has one or two moments but is mainly a miss. Eisenberg is terrible in this and the entire movie really depends on him being good so it doesn't work at all. Boyd Crowder looked so weird without teeth
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walkabout | 45 12th |
Wait... How is this a comedy?
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ChrisPalm | 68 18th |
Just a bad match on many levels.
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andayb | 50 27th |
the plot is basically "chuck" with a stoner twist. the action is itself is passable, but the comedy bit seems to fall flat. eisenberg and stewart are well cast but their presence just can't redeem this silly movie.
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Luna6ix | 67 27th |
I'm not entirely sure how, but for a movie starring Eisenberg and Stewart, both of whom I don't have many kind words for, it's actually fairly watchable. Eisenberg is far less annoying than usual and Stewart kinda just fits. There's some decent action and the plot may be disposable, but it's not like anyone expected anything else. The stand out part is Leguizamo as Rose the perpetually shirtless drug/firework dealer. He should get his own damned movie.
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Vandelay1 | 65 67th |
good movie
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TheRealJ-Ro | 65 31st |
The best way I can describe this would be: imagine if "Pineapple Express" was directed by David Lynch, and written by Robert Ludlum. Boom. That's American Ultra right there. This thing is fucking weird, and I find myself at something of a loss to say much about it. I wasn't in love with it, but at the same time I know I had a positive response to what I saw. I guess I land more in the "intrigued" camp than I do in the "entertained" one. I think this is worth seeing, but, curb your expectations.
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INDYATMN | 81 61st |
Would be much better if the villain had any complexity at all & wasn't such a 1-note jerk & if more were done w/ the premise or humor (laughs depend entirely on how hilarious you find the idea of a sleeper agent who's a pothead and looks like Eisenberg), but the action scenes are generally effective & fans of the 2 leads should find this entertaining enough.
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Stewball | 60 28th |
Not as bad as some critics are making it out to be, though it does seem to become a little vacant when trying to decide whether it's supposed to be humorous or serious. One is never comfortable with the other.
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omgfridge | 3 27th |
Stuck in a hotel and got nothing to watch? Don't make the same mistake as me.
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1 | doughbaron | 61 29th |
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A comedy Bourne movie with only a few laughs and a couple of decent action sequences. Serious issues with the pacing caused me to lose interest at times.
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Darren | 0 0th |
The most morally repugnant movie I've seen in a while. Unsurprising since it came from the director of Project X.
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TrixRabbi | 69 28th |
Max Landis strikes me as the kind of dude who acts like a feminist to get laid.
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1 | myfavchords | 68 23rd |
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I was expecting this movie to be funnier, there are a lot of serious scenes. There are some funny moments and some good action scenes. The movie does not change tones very well. The cast does a good job except I think Topher Grace was miscast. Overall I can not quite recommend this movie.
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1 | DougieD | 60 23rd |
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The ads made American Ultra appear to be a stoner comedy, but aside from the lead character smoking lots of weed early in the film, it really isn't much of a stoner film at all. It's really more of an ultra-violent action picture with serious dramatic moments popping up occasionally amidst the general government paranoia plot points. The film is kind of all over the place, with exposition-heavy scenes breaking up the otherwise speedy pace of the film. It's mildly entertaining.
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magdabag | 80 40th |
I though this was a good movie. It was very unique and different. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart worked very well together. That's all I got.
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1 | PluggedIN | 10 4th |
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This bizarre mashup of The Bourne Identity and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle is not without its small charms. But it has so many big problems as to make the whole experience more than a little miserable. Turns out, Mike isn't the tree: This movie is. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and it truly is trying to keep you from moving on to better fare. (pluggedin.com)
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MacSwell | 40 13th |
American Ultra's biggest issue is its lack of originality - the action scenes are tame and uninspired, and the plot itself consists of very little that's not been done before. On top of this, there's scarcely a comedic element to it at all. Somehow it still manages to be reasonably entertaining throughout, with a scattering of good dialogue, a few tense moments and some decent acting from the two leads, but this doesn't save it from being a desperately disappointing effort.
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VorpalKitten | 95 93rd |
Really fun movie, surprisingly good acting from Stewart, and just enjoyable all around. Though, if you're going in looking for a stoner comedy, you're probably going to be disappointed - the set-up is comedic, but the movie is mostly played straight. Holds up well on a second viewing.
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Corbad | 80 80th |
Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart impressively ground and humanize the arguably silly plot and ultimately their characters and relationship raise this movie into admirable territory, helped along by occasionally remarkable cinematography and exciting action.
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Average Percentile 32.96% from 864 Ratings | ![]() |