WISE Score
Pierce Brosnan plays a drug-dealing island god in a thriller that's as empty and unlikable as the 'party kids' it portrays.
Urge is a classic example of a 'skip it.' Despite a semi-interesting premise about a drug that deletes your impulse control, the movie itself lacks any control over its own quality.
It’s a cynical, violent, and ultimately boring slog through the lives of people you wouldn't want to spend five minutes with in real life. Unless you're a Pierce Brosnan completist who needs to see every single thing he's ever done, your time is better spent elsewhere.
This is strictly for adults, and even then, only for those with a high tolerance for 'so-bad-it's-bad' B-movies. It is fundamentally inappropriate for anyone under 17.
The entire plot revolves around drug-fueled debauchery, the loss of moral compasses, and characters becoming the worst versions of themselves. There is zero kindness or cooperation here.
While the 'designer drug on a private island' premise has some potential, the execution is a derivative blend of 'The Purge' and 'Limitless' without the wit or world-building of either.
This is a hard-R experience. It features heavy drug use, graphic violence, and sexual situations that stem from 'uncontrolled urges.' It is the definition of unsafe for a younger audience.
There's no ethical takeaway or personal growth. It’s a cynical look at vapid people doing terrible things, offering very little for the brain or the soul.
The premise of Urge is the kind of high-concept hook that usually kills on streaming platforms: a designer drug that lets you act on every impulse, but you can only take it once. It sounds like a Philosophy 101 thought experiment wrapped in a neon-soaked thriller. In reality, the film treats this concept with the depth of a shallow puddle. Instead of exploring the human psyche, it just uses the "urges" as a blank check for the characters to become the most obnoxious versions of themselves.
Critics and audiences didn't miss the lack of substance. With an IMDb score of 4.3 and a Rotten Tomatoes audience rating of 24, the consensus is pretty clear. The movie attempts to be edgy by showing "New York party kids" descending into madness, but because the characters are so unlikable from the first frame, you’re mostly just waiting for the credits to roll. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into why this specific execution fails so hard, our parent’s guide to Urge breaks down the friction points.
The only reason this movie isn't buried in the bargain bin of history is Pierce Brosnan. He plays the mysterious nightclub owner who introduces the group to the drug, and he is clearly in a different movie than everyone else. While the "party kids" are busy being vapid, Brosnan leans into a flamboyant, almost campy performance that provides the only moments of genuine entertainment.
He’s the "island god" figure, but even his charisma can't fix a script that Metacritic reviewers called "incoherent." He’s a bright spot, but he’s not on screen enough to justify the runtime. You’re essentially watching a B-movie that thinks it’s an A-list psychological thriller.
If your teenager is starting to age out of Young Adult dystopian stories, they might see a trailer for Urge and think it’s the "grown-up" version of those themes. There’s a superficial similarity to the social-experiment vibes of something like Allegiant, where a specific mechanic (in that case, genetic purity; here, a drug) changes how society functions.
However, the "adult" elements here aren't sophisticated; they’re just cynical. Where YA stories usually offer a protagonist to root for or a moral to chew on, Urge offers a vacuum. It replaces the high-stakes sacrifice of the Divergent series with senseless violence and sexual assault. If they liked the "world falling apart" aspect of YA thrillers, steer them toward something with actual world-building rather than this empty exercise in shock value.
You’ll likely see Urge popping up in your "Recommended for You" carousels on Tubi, Plex, or Amazon Prime Video. It’s the kind of "free with ads" filler that thrives on a provocative thumbnail and a recognizable face like Brosnan’s. It’s a trap for the bored viewer.
The film tries to market itself as a cautionary tale about drug use, but it glamorizes the "luxury island" lifestyle so heavily in the first act that the message gets lost. It’s essentially The Crazies if everyone involved was wearing designer clothes and trying too hard to be cool. Unless you are specifically looking for a movie to "hate-watch" with friends so you can laugh at the dialogue, there is almost no reason to hit play.
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