Detroit received praise for its direction, script and performances, especially those of Poulter, Boyega and Smith. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 252 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Detroit delivers a gut-wrenching – and essential – dramatisation of a tragic chapter from America's past that draws distressing parallels to the present." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while comScore reported filmgoers gave an 86% overall positive score and a 63% "definite recommend".