‎My Friend Dahmer (2017) directed by Marc Meyers • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

My Friend Dahmer

2017 Directed by Marc Meyers

Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Derf Backderf. Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy. And during his teenage years, he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he becomes.

Anne Heche Vincent Kartheiser Alex Wolff Dallas Roberts Ross Lynch

107 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Zachary Poli ★★★★½ 2

Tribeca film festival review

As a huge fan of the book, this shattered my expectations. Ross Lynch is incredible as Dahmer. What easily could have been just a cheap imitation, instead feels like an actual living breathing person. The rest of the cast does nicely as well with great direction and perfect score. Definitely check this one out when you can.
Review by Jason Bailey ★★★★

“No, really, Jeffrey Dahmer was kinda funny” is an odd pitch for a movie, to be sure (or for the autobiographical graphic novel it’s based on), but this is a surprisingly effective movie – a ‘70s period piece (reveling in the wood-paneling aesthetic) in which young, lonely “Jeff” becomes a kind of absurdist mascot for a group of almost-friends in high school. But there’s always sadness to him, a sense of solitude, even when he’s around other people, and star Ross Lynch is unnervingly convincing in portraying how that isolation turned deadly. Writer/director Marc Meyers, like graphic novelist John Backderf, doesn’t try to do anything as impossible as “explain” Dahmer, but the film puts his ingredients together like a recipe:…
Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★ 2

People have never been able to properly pronounce "coven". Derf Backderf's book is adapted near perfectly and cinema gets the Jeffrey Dahmer coming of age film it has always needed. Anne Heche is a treasure.
Review by Ali Chappell ★★★★★

It's about a hot teenage Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean damnnnnn. Disney star crushing Ross it in this total juxtaposition. Have you watched Austin and Ally? It's a stupid weiner show for jerk kids. How ever seeing him go from that to this is great. God damn. I would be your friend Jeff, you adorable son of a gun. But alas these dreams can never be because well.... we all know the story. Dangggg.....
Review by Max Radbill ★★★★½

Tribeca 2017
Seeing Ross Lynch go from Austin & Ally to this is fucking insane. He becomes Dahmer in the most unsettling, beautiful way, in a film that's very well made and heavy on the tension.
Review by bartontare ★★★★½

Ross Lynch's performance is the best on-screen interpretation of Dahmer I've ever seen.

Recent reviews

Review by Ali Chappell ★★★★★

It's about a hot teenage Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean damnnnnn. Disney star crushing Ross it in this total juxtaposition. Have you watched Austin and Ally? It's a stupid weiner show for jerk kids. How ever seeing him go from that to this is great. God damn. I would be your friend Jeff, you adorable son of a gun. But alas these dreams can never be because well.... we all know the story. Dangggg.....
Review by Daniel Azbel ★★★½

weird movie but give lynch the oscarrr
Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★ 2

People have never been able to properly pronounce "coven". Derf Backderf's book is adapted near perfectly and cinema gets the Jeffrey Dahmer coming of age film it has always needed. Anne Heche is a treasure.
Review by Optic Intake ★★★★½

Damn. What a great film. Easily the best depiction of the mind of a serial killer. And that's because it was about Dahmer's life in his teenage years at school. Written originally as a graphic novel, by one of his actual classmates who became a comic book artist and journalist, it depicts a realistic portrayal of one of the most gruesome murderers of the last century. You'll want to re-investigate his notorious crimes after watching this, but in actual fact, it would probably be more beneficial to research them prior to watching. As during the film I couldn't help but google the information depicted on screen. It'll make the viewing experience far more eerie.

Terrific film. I'd put it alongside…
Review by Val Taylor ★★★★½

i'll always be true crime trash

SSDGM
Review by Jason Bailey ★★★★

“No, really, Jeffrey Dahmer was kinda funny” is an odd pitch for a movie, to be sure (or for the autobiographical graphic novel it’s based on), but this is a surprisingly effective movie – a ‘70s period piece (reveling in the wood-paneling aesthetic) in which young, lonely “Jeff” becomes a kind of absurdist mascot for a group of almost-friends in high school. But there’s always sadness to him, a sense of solitude, even when he’s around other people, and star Ross Lynch is unnervingly convincing in portraying how that isolation turned deadly. Writer/director Marc Meyers, like graphic novelist John Backderf, doesn’t try to do anything as impossible as “explain” Dahmer, but the film puts his ingredients together like a recipe:…
Review by Zachary Poli ★★★★½ 2

Tribeca film festival review

As a huge fan of the book, this shattered my expectations. Ross Lynch is incredible as Dahmer. What easily could have been just a cheap imitation, instead feels like an actual living breathing person. The rest of the cast does nicely as well with great direction and perfect score. Definitely check this one out when you can.
Review by Max Radbill ★★★★½

Tribeca 2017
Seeing Ross Lynch go from Austin & Ally to this is fucking insane. He becomes Dahmer in the most unsettling, beautiful way, in a film that's very well made and heavy on the tension.
Review by bartontare ★★★★½

Ross Lynch's performance is the best on-screen interpretation of Dahmer I've ever seen.