American Ultra

"Everyone's getting smoked."

2015 1h 36m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 3,036

ActionComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Mike is an unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe, is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.

“Everyone's getting smoked.”

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Cast

Jesse Eisenberg
Mike Howell
Kristen Stewart
Phoebe Larson
Topher Grace
Adrian Yates
Connie Britton
Victoria Lasseter
Walton Goggins
Laugher
John Leguizamo
Rose
Bill Pullman
Krueger
Tony Hale
Agent Peter Douglas

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Writers: Max Landis, Brent Boates
Languages: English
Countries: Switzerland, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 97% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Switzerland, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

255+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, shot by Michael Bonvillain. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marcelo Zarvos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Andrew Marcus shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and Topher Grace carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nima Nourizadeh directs. Michael Bonvillain behind the camera. Marcelo Zarvos scores. Andrew Marcus cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Switzerland, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 97% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 11 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Switzerland, United States of America.
4255+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, shot by Michael Bonvillain. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Marcelo Zarvos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Andrew Marcus shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and Topher Grace carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Everyone's getting smoked.".
10IMDB entry: tt3316948 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "small town", "central intelligence agency (cia)", "slacker", "memory loss".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Bonvillain
Original score: Marcelo Zarvos
Editing: Andrew Marcus
Production design: Richard Bridgland
Makeup / hair: Shane Shisheboran
VFX supervisor: Lucien Harriot
Stunt coordinator: Robert Alonzo
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $28,000,000
Box office: $27,100,000
Return: 97% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: American Ultra (2015)

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Nima Nourizadeh

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Community reviews

What people are saying

teix2016-01-24
★ 0.5/10
This movie was an extreme disappointment! The story line is good, and it could have been a very cool movie. However, the directing goes wrong from the very beginning with the going back in time to show how we got here trick, and the voice over, narration. From there it just got worst. The acting/characters are bad, the story gets lost in it self, and the twists don't add anything to the movie. I can't see how this is good entertainment. They could have done to the spy genre what Shaun of the Dead did to the zombie genre.
Reno2016-02-14
★ 6/10
A very familiar theme, as well as a small quantity entertainer. The second movie for the director. His first, 'Project X' was an unexpected full treat. I simply loved that one, just for the entertainment's sake. I anticipated, 'Project XX' or 'Project Y', followed by 'XXX' or 'Z', but that never happened. I thought the director was setting up his own style of filmmaking, but this film did not clinch well. There's no story, just based on one evening event that stretches as far as another day by adding brief oral flashbacks to match with the rest of the storyline. But the fact is it was a comedy version of 'Hitman'. The red band trailer I saw revealed many stuffs, but the movie still offered lots of variety from the different angles of the same stuffs. Jesse Eisenberg, I never expected him to play a character like this, he was good. But it was only a partial display, if there is a sequel, I expect that would be an uncompromised when it comes to the stunts and heroic adventure. Although I enjoyed the end credit animation. Kristen Stewart was just hanging around, though her character had potential to be a game changer, so let's hope the sequel strengthens that part. Yeah, I'm kind of certain about the follow-up after seeing this film's ending, if they don't consider to make one, that would be theirs great loss. Anyway, the movie is a good entertainer, but not your unusual story as you expect it to be. 6/10
AlfaVitaY2K2026-05-24
★ 10/10
American Ultra is not fiction. The movie is based on MK Ultra secret experiments by CIA to make unaware people become secret assassins performed by psychiatrists using drugs and hypnosis on victims. MK Ultra was exposed to the public in 1974 by a New York Times investigative report written by journalist Seymour Hersh. The movie itself is a good action comedy about government conspiracy. Under the comedy premise it shows how the MK Ultra program was supposed to be happening. Recommended. Those clueless about MK Ultra won't get the whole picture, believing it to be just an absurd comedy.