Metacritic reviews

A cryptic and unsettling film.

The cruelty of the law has been better demonstrated with news stories, and unless you're a Californian with two strikes against you, I don't know why you'd want to do this movie to yourself.

In the final analysis it all feels very much like a successful acting exercise that while psychologically acute, doesn't really bring much more to the table than what we've already gleaned from a few episodes of "Oz."

For venturesome viewers, Jailbait would make a potent late-summer palate cleanser in preparation for festival season, even if you wouldn't make a meal of it.

Claustrophobic and overwrought, Jailbait is an unpleasant excursion into gay panic mitigated somewhat by performances that are hard to shake.

Tedious talk-fest.

Becomes the umpteenth prison drama to focus on the lurid threat of forced submission.

A stagy, only mildly compelling prison drama that ends up feeling like purgatory to all involved.

An essentially two-character drama that would have been far more effective onstage, Brett C. Leonard's Jailbait is ultimately as claustrophobic as its setting.

I wouldn't have thought it was possible to make a prison picture as utterly boring as Jailbait.