DTF St. Louis Feature Scores
Explore all 54 feature scores for DTF St. Louis, organized into pros and cons.
Scores by Feature
Summary
54 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.031 (57%)
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Positive 3.5-4.412 (22%)
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Neutral 2.5-3.48 (15%)
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Negative 1.5-2.43 (6%)
Pros
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The lead trio is the clearest point of agreement. Bateman, Harbour, and Cardellini are repeatedly described as excellent, nuanced, career-best, or central to why the strange material works.
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The strongest praise centers on how Clark, Floyd, and Carol gain layers as new perspectives expose their loneliness, contradictions, and hidden needs. Reviews often describe the shift from pity or suspicion toward empathy.
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This is the strongest consensus beyond the acting: reviewers repeatedly praise the exploration of loneliness, shame, midlife dissatisfaction, male vulnerability, desire, and the need for genuine connection.
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The show is repeatedly described as moving, heartwarming, heartbreaking, devastating, and deeply poignant. Later reviews especially praise the finale for turning the mystery into a painful study of isolation.
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The visual work is widely admired for careful framing, desaturated suburban spaces, sharp lighting contrasts, and compositions that reinforce the show’s emotional chill.
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Most reviewers respond well to the dry, surreal, sexually awkward comedy, with several calling it hilarious. A minority finds the jokes muted, forced, or only mildly funny.
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Reviewers frequently call the show unique, audacious, fresh, or difficult to compare with anything else. Even critics who note a familiar murder hook often praise the unusual way it is told.
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The shifting perspectives and suspicion keep many critics guessing, with repeated praise for reversals that change how characters and motives are understood. One mixed review finds the puzzle connections less revelatory than hoped.
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Most assessments praise the writing as sharp, exacting, original, and emotionally observant, though the strongest negative review rejects the dialogue and narrative construction.
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The desaturated palette, brutalist spaces, off-kilter angles, and carefully controlled compositions give the series a distinctive look. One reviewer finds the grayness dull, but most see it as purposeful.
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Bateman and Harbour’s odd-couple friendship is widely praised, and several reviews also like the lead trio and detective pairing. One sharply negative review found chemistry lacking across the cast.
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Most finale reactions are strongly positive, praising the ending as haunting, emotionally satisfying, and the show’s greatest strength. One full-season viewer calls it mostly neatly resolved.
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Several reviewers found the show hard to stop once its mystery and character layers took hold. One weekly viewer explicitly thought the completed series works better as a binge.
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The nonlinear cutting is repeatedly praised for making flashbacks and flashforwards feel purposeful and for adding to the mystery rather than simply scrambling chronology.
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The supporting players are another strength, with Joy Sunday’s presence and Peter Sarsgaard’s layered turn receiving especially enthusiastic praise.
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The dialogue is one of the show’s most divisive signatures. Many critics love its repetitive, awkward, precisely observed cadence, while a strong detractor calls it reliably terrible.
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The show’s mix of absurd comedy, melancholy, sexuality, and mystery is admired by many as a difficult balancing act. Others find the shifts forced, inconsistent, or tonally nightmarish.
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Most reviews find the series compelling or highly entertaining once it settles into its rhythm, though one severe pan sees little value and others describe a slower, more selective appeal.
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Floyd emerges as the most consistently lovable figure: warm, sincere, decent, and emotionally generous even when his choices are messy.
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The direction is praised as confident and precise, with deliberate staging, camera movement, and visual control supporting the offbeat tone.
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Needle drops are repeatedly praised for adding energy and contrast to the gray suburban mood, including songs that make the show’s odd flourishes feel playful.
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The slow-burn mystery keeps suspicion moving from person to person, and one reviewer says the first four episodes kept them nervous even when the comedy stayed restrained.
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The finale produces sharply split interpretation. Two reviews praise its emotional force and human reveal, while another argues the ending retreats into a damaging cliché after a more nuanced season.
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The ending gives Clark meaningful consequences for his neglect and selfish choices, and one finale analysis finds that isolation a fitting outcome.
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The performances are a major strength, with the ensemble repeatedly praised for making the show’s odd mix of comedy, melancholy, and mystery feel human.
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Despite the fragmented timeline, scenes are praised for flowing into one another in unorthodox but intuitive ways.
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One review specifically praises the show’s sharp understanding of midlife and Middle American anxieties rather than treating its Missouri setting as generic backdrop.
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The flashback-and-flashforward construction is praised as complex but controlled, helping the story reveal motives and relationships piece by piece.
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The stark sheriff’s station earns especially strong praise, with its brutalist spaces and oppressive colors helping define the show’s strange, hostile atmosphere.
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The deliberately awkward speech is praised for sounding true to the strange, repetitive ways people actually talk, even when the larger world remains stylized.
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A full-series reviewer wanted to spend more time with the characters and even floated interest in seeing them return in a spin-off.
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The finale’s reinterpretation of earlier behavior gives the opening episode new meaning, prompting one reviewer to say the ending practically demands a rewatch.
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The score is praised for building dread without obvious musical cues, complementing the show’s restrained and uneasy suburban atmosphere.
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One full-series assessment calls the writing top-notch, praising how the script handles midlife crisis, friendship, and emotional discomfort without feeling manipulative.
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The season-ending episode is praised for delivering a satisfying emotional wallop while tying the mystery back to the characters’ loneliness and vulnerability.
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The series talks explicitly about sex and kink, but a positive review praises its nonjudgmental empathy and its refusal to make unusual preferences the punchline.
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Muted sound is singled out as part of the show’s cool, emotionally twilight atmosphere, working with the stark imagery rather than competing with it.
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The peculiar dialogue, brand-heavy suburbia, specific habits, and recurring visual details create a world that feels intentionally strange despite its mundane setting.
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The show looks capable of reaching beyond Steven Conrad’s cult following, though its deliberately peculiar style remains a hurdle for broader viewers.
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The three central characters get comparable opportunities to carry the story, with each lead receiving meaningful screen time and moments to stand out.
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Critical reaction is broadly positive but not uniform: several outlets praise the show’s originality and character drama, while others object to the murder-mystery framing.
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The sexually explicit talk is treated as deliberately excessive but amusing; one critic finds its blunt phrasing part of the show’s comic appeal rather than a drawback.
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Familiar brands such as Purina, Outback Steakhouse, and Jamba Juice are seen as purposeful texture that reinforces the story’s aggressively ordinary suburban setting.
Cons
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The broader story draws some of the harshest disagreement. Supporters see a fresh, well-written mystery about loneliness, while detractors think the crime framework stretches or obscures stronger character material.
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Pacing is a recurring weakness. Several critics say the mystery scenes stall momentum or the early episodes take too long to click, although one review appreciates the deliberate slow-burn buildup.
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One critic felt Floyd’s willingness to cheat clashes with the kindness established elsewhere, making that choice feel out of character.
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One full-season reviewer felt several near-hour episodes contained too much material that did not advance the characters or mystery, making the runtime feel padded.
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One reviewer found weekly viewing difficult and thought the series played better once all episodes were available to binge.
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The nonlinear mystery becomes clearer after the first episode for some viewers, but the harshest review finds the narrative unable to cohere at all.
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The premiere sharply divides reviewers. One calls it especially strong, while several others find the opening disjointed or off-putting before the series improves in episode two and beyond.
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Season pacing is mixed: the show often grows stronger as it proceeds, but several critics feel the seven-episode shape stretches thin material or becomes ponderous in places.
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One mixed review finds the dramatic material humane but not quite poignant, suggesting the emotional intentions land more fully for other critics than for this one.
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One critic wonders whether the material might have worked better as a movie, though the same review says the occasional stretching never fully derails momentum.
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The dark comedy and character drama generally fare better than the murder-mystery machinery. Some critics call the blend ideal, while others think the crime framework is conventional, distracting, or unnecessary.
Cast & Creators
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Floyd SmernitchHarbour receives the most uniformly enthusiastic acting praise, bringing Floyd empathy, physical comedy, vulnerability, and a soft earnestness that keeps the character sympathetic. Multiple critics call him the standout or describe the work as career-level.
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CarolCardellini’s Carol is praised for deadpan precision, emotional reserve, and the ability to shift between femme-fatale opacity and genuine desperation. Reviewers repeatedly highlight the nuance beneath her cold or manipulative surface.
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Clark ForrestBateman is repeatedly praised for turning Clark’s bland everyman surface into something anxious, selfish, sincere, and quietly sinister. Several critics call the performance among his best work, with only mild reservations about his range.
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Writer/DirectorConrad’s writing and direction are mostly praised for precise visual control, unusual dialogue, empathetic character work, and the blend of comedy with melancholy. A few critics remain skeptical of the tonal shifts and mystery mechanics.
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HomerJenkins is praised as a reliably terrific, dry straight man whose old-school detective becomes a strong comic and dramatic counterweight to the show’s sexual and emotional strangeness.
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Jodie PlumbSunday earns praise for sharp screen presence and for working brilliantly against Jenkins, giving Jodie a more observant, modern energy that helps the detective pairing grow beyond its initial friction.
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ActorSarsgaard’s supporting turn is described as flirty, layered, resplendent, and wonderful, with reviewers liking how the character complicates assumptions about the show’s sexuality and relationships.
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ComposerThe score is credited to Alex Worman and praised for building unease without obvious horror cues, adding restrained dread to the show’s suburban atmosphere.