Terri is a devoted wife and mother of two, living an ideal suburban life in Atlanta when Colin, a charming but dangerous escaped convict, shows up at her door claiming car trouble. Terri offers her phone to help him but soon learns that no good deed goes unpunished as she finds herself fighting for survival when he invades her home and terrorizes her family.
With performers as strong as Henson and Elba, and the guidance of director Sam Miller, who's worked with Elba in a handful of Luther episodes, it should have yielded more. The trite third act reveal only further sours the wasted potential.
– Lindsey Bahr,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Sep 2014
rotten:
The final plot twist is about as fiendishly clever as an episode of General Hospital. Is that a spoiler? You're welcome.
– Rafer Guzman,
Newsday,
12 Sep 2014
rotten:
No Good Deed practically fetishizes the brutality Idris Elba's character inflicts on a number of women. It sexualizes him as a killing machine. It wants us to salivate over him and tremble before him simultaneously.
– Christy Lemire,
ChristyLemire.com,
14 Sep 2014
fresh:
It's a little dumb (OK, maybe more than a little), but "No Good Deed" is an otherwise brisk, efficient thriller that won't punish audiences who drop in.
– Gary Goldstein,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Sep 2014
rotten:
There should be something more exhilarating about the violent and hopeful epilogue finale than there is.