Synopsis
Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. During his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he was to become.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Ross LynchJeffrey Dahmer
- Alex WolffJohn 'Derf' Backderf
- Anne HecheJoyce Dahmer
- Dallas RobertsLionel Dahmer
- Liam KoethDave Dahmer
- Nancy TelzerowCarol Backderf
- Tommy NelsonNeil
- Harrison HolzerMike
- Brigid NaughtonMelody
- Cameron McKendryMoose
Recommendations
- 100
The Hollywood Reporter
In its fusion of craft and narrative, My Friend Dahmer is exquisite. In its portrayal of Jeff's agonies, it can be excruciating. - 90
Variety
As you watch the movie, its central idea — that Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t just born, he was made; that he started off as an actual human being — has a shocking validity that never undercuts the extremity of his crimes. - 90
Village Voice
My Friend Dahmer is both sensitive and fascinating, distinguished by a stellar, mouth-breathing performance of insecurity from Lynch. - 80
Screen Daily
Meyers’s drama depends mostly on what it doesn’t show you, and it works. - 75
The Playlist
Although the film depicts a fledgling psychopath salvaging roadkill with his bare hands, soaking them in acid in order to collect their bones and finding himself flirting with murderous intentions on several occasions, Meyers’ drama is paradoxically humane and affecting — a direction few thought was possible when deliberating the essence of a real-life monster. - 75
The A.V. Club
It’s another portrayal of mental illness that keeps My Friend Dahmer from fully immersing viewers in its reality. - 75
Rolling Stone
A warped wonder of a movie that takes twisted to areas few have investigated. - 70
The New York Times
This film is sensitively wrought. It’s credible in its evocation of mid-’70s suburbia. The acting is excellent throughout, and Ross Lynch in the role of Dahmer elicits genuine sympathy for an increasingly lost but not yet monstrous soul. But in abandoning the subjective perspective of the graphic novel, My Friend Dahmer feels a little lacking in purpose.
