The Hollywood Reporter's review of "The Girl in the River" dismisses the new crime thriller as a derivative police procedural that feels like a rejected television pilot rather than a cinema release. Written and directed by Brando Benetton in his feature debut, the film pairs a haunted, whisky-sipping veteran detective with a fearful rookie partner to investigate the murder of a teenage girl found in the Mississippi River, ticking off nearly every genre cliché along the way.

The cast includes Devon Sawa as the grieving cop Alan Kramer, Maggie Grace as his rookie partner Amelia Pembrock, Tiffany Haddish as their tough police captain, and Ralph Macchio as an amiable coroner. The reviewer criticises the predictable plotting, clichéd dialogue and a script that "seems to have been written by AI," though praises Sawa and Grace for committing professionally to underwritten roles, calling the film's central shootout among the least convincing ever filmed.