CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
65 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
60 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
xx Children of Huang Shi, The
83 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
49 Dark Matter
35 Deal
62 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
83 Edge of Heaven, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
57 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
51 Jihad for Love, A
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
55 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
55 Noise
63 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
46 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
80 Reprise
71 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
50 Sangre de mi sangre
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
67 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
68 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
55 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
66 Unsettled
90 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
xx War, Inc.
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
75 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Before Sunset
Warner Independent Pictures

Before Sunset reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 90 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.1 out of 10
based on 39 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 117 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language and sexual references

Starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff, Louise Lemoine Torres, Rodolphe Pauly, Mariane Plasteig, Diabolo, Albert Delpy, and Marie Pillet

The timeless romantic story of two questing hearts and minds whose powerful bond defies time and place. (Warner Independent Pictures)


GENRE(S): Drama  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Richard Linklater (also characters and story)
Julie Delpy
Ethan Hawke
Kim Krizan (characters and story)
 
DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 9, 2004 
Video: November 9, 2004 
Theatrical: July 2, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 80 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

Nominated, Golden Berlin Bear, 2004 Berlin International Film Festival

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
This is one of the most wildly romantic movies in ages.
Read Full Review
100
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Summer sequelitis is upon us, but the season is unlikely to bring anything more remarkable than Richard Linklater's sweet, smart, and deeply romantic Before Sunset.
Read Full Review
100
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Yep, this movie is basically a yakfest, but an incredibly fluid and involving one, and if you have any kind of affinity for either of the characters, you’re bound to find the picture a kind of miracle.
Read Full Review
100
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The new film, which unfolds in real time over the course of 80 minutes, is a deeper, darker, altogether more memorable experience. It doesn't extend the characters so much as fulfill them.
Read Full Review
100
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This is a romance with minimal physical contact and sex--and that's part of what makes it work so well as a love story.
Read Full Review
100
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
What ultimately makes Before Sunset so special (and maybe the most resonant, least self-conscious “great movie romance” of its era) is its deep-rooted honesty -- the way it takes the bitter with the sweet and somehow leaves us feeling elated.
Read Full Review
100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
All told, he's (Linklater) one of today's most versatile American filmmakers, and Before Sunset finds his light shining as brightly as ever.
Read Full Review
100
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It's great to see an American filmmaker - and a successful one at that - willing to simply train his cameras on the actors and let them, and their characters, come to life.
Read Full Review
100
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Romantic, real and as generous as it is vulnerable, the art of conversation has rarely been so acute, honest and revealing.
Read Full Review
100
Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
Because Linklater now wears his heart on his sleeve, he has made a film that in its joy, optimism and aesthetic achievement keeps faith with American cinema at its finest.
Read Full Review
100
USA Today Mike Clark
A movie this diminutive can be easily oversold, but we might see it on some year-end best lists. It eats at you, just like renewed love.
Read Full Review
100
Boston Globe Ty Burr
That rose in the desert, a sequel that improves in every way upon its beloved predecessor and a romance that slowly builds a fire from embers thought dead.
Read Full Review
100
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Magnificent but somewhat frustrating movie.
Read Full Review
100
New York Post Megan Lehmann
Chance encounters and fated love are the stuff of fairy tales, which is what makes the deliriously romantic sequel Before Sunset a small miracle.
Read Full Review
100
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Although there isn't a single kiss in this love story, it's intensely erotic -- and more to the point, it's not afraid of eroticsm's juicier and more forthright twin, carnality.
Read Full Review
100
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
One of the most perfect endings of any film that comes to mind.
Read Full Review
100
Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo
Hawke is not a brilliant actor, but here he rises to the occasion: Every inch of him registers the weight of this moment.
Read Full Review
100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A vibrant emotional epic.
Read Full Review
100
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Although it is technically a sequel, Before Sunset stands perfectly well on its own. In fact, the new movie plays better if you haven't seen the original for a while, so its details have grown appropriately fuzzy.
Read Full Review
100
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The result is a peculiar small gem, a true Linklater gem. The verity of the film, rather than any novelty or twist, keeps us fixed.
Read Full Review
90
The New Yorker David Denby
The movie is an O. Henry-like conceit--the slenderness of the initial premise is part of the charm--but the anecdote becomes almost momentous as it goes on.
Read Full Review
90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
In the spirit of the original, Linklater closes with one of the best endings of its kind since George Romero's "Martin."
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Although the characters and their backstories are carefully thought out, Delpy and Hawke deliver their dialogue as if spontaneous and unmeditated.
Read Full Review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
This is a sequel just as intriguing as the original.
Read Full Review
88
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The naturalistic dialogue is a masterful bit of writing, credited to Linklater and his "Sunrise" co-writer Kim Krizan, as well as to the two stars.
Read Full Review
88
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The ex-lovers' new conversation is stimulating and banal, selfish and broad-minded, affectionate and recriminatory, insightful and obtuse - in short, the kind of dialogue two people might have while pouring out their hearts and poring over their pasts.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The film has the materials for a lifetime project; like the "7-Up" series, this is a conversation that could be returned to every 10 years or so, as Celine and Jesse grow older.
Read Full Review
88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
In the midst of summer's cinematic thunder and lightning, this is a rare moment of tranquility.
Read Full Review
80
Film Threat Peter Hanson
The sequel is an uninterrupted 80-minute dialogue between two richly imagined and performed characters.
Read Full Review
80
Variety Eddie Cockrell
A savvy sequel that should speak to anyone who's let that one great love slip away.
Read Full Review
80
Slate David Edelstein
The bad news is that Before Sunset is not as delirious an experience as its predecessor. The good news is that it's wonderful anyway, and in ways that tell us something about our romance with "Before Sunrise."
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
The script of Before Sunset is both rambling and self-conscious, and at times it has the self-important sound of clever writing. But though it is sometimes maddening, the movie's prodigious verbiage is also enthralling.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Anything that inspires that many whoops, gasps and groans with only two actors and a few choice words has earned its place at the summertime box office trough.
Read Full Review
75
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
There is something uniquely unforgettable in the way Linklater, Hawke and Delpy (equal collaborators on the script) find nuance, art and eroticism in words, spoken and unspoken. The actors shine.
Read Full Review
60
TV Guide Angel Cohn
This sweet film is a genuine treat, even if there's little plot, no antic mayhem and its 90-minute running time is mostly consumed by nonstop, sometimes pretentious dialogue.
Read Full Review
60
Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Meandering but reasonably charming.
Read Full Review
60
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It's "My Dinner With Andre" for the relationship generation.
60
Empire Liz Beardsworth
An intelligent, engagingly honest study of love lost and, just maybe, regained.
Read Full Review
40
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
All foreplay and no climax.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 117 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Yssys G. gave it a10:
The ending it's just perfect!

D L gave it a10:
This movie is absolutely amazing, I don't know what C.M. saw but I think it should get $4 worth of brain cells.

S Wilson gave it a10:
classic. unique. real. I understand why your standard movie goer wouldn't get what they wanted out of this movie, and there's nothing wrong with that...but luckily I'm not that kind of person. If you're introspective and extrospective about the world, this movie will work for you.

C. M. gave it a0:
Unbelievably boring film. I found myself fast forwarding through most of the first 45 minutes, hoping the plot would thicken, but it never happened. It is clear that people who liked this movie are bored, lonely and desperately reaching for something that is missing in their own lives. It is sad that so many reviewers mislabel an atrocious waste of film such as this as 'Art' and 'Romantic'. I feel like I have been robbed of an evening of my time and $4 DVD rental fee.

Vian W. gave it a10:
A Very clever - Romantic movie i ever saw, this movie tells a lot about the connection, meaning of love without a single 'I Love u' word, but we feel a lot of emotion and love experience from the start till the end. Standing applause fo RIchard Linklater.

A. G. gave it a10:
It is very clear from the wording of comments that rating is directly related to level of intellectualism and an experience of real sensational love.

Oshayne G. gave it a2:
The movie is really different and monotonous being no exception. It doesn't progress, I'd recommend this to old people!

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use