The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of critics give the film a positive review based on 45 reviews, with the critical consensus "While it boasts an impressive cast, striking visuals, and an effective mood, "Flatliners" never quite jolts its story to life." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a score 55 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.