GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: 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

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

In Search of a Midnight Kiss
IFC Films

In Search of a Midnight Kiss reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 64 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.7 out of 10
based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Scoot McNairy, Sara Simmonds, Brian Matthew McGuire, Katy Luong, Bret Roberts, and Twink Caplan

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is a funny and bittersweet look at love, sex, and modern romance. With an unsold script, no concrete plans, and a love life reduced to getting caught in compromising positions, a twenty-nine-year aspiring writer, Wilson just had the worst year of his life. That is until his best friend, Jacob, browbeats him into posting a personal ad for New Year's Eve on Craig's List. When Vivian, a sexy, sarcastic, and seemingly blind-date-from-hell responds, the two strangers embark on an unexpected, chaotic, and hilariously awkward journey through the black-and-white streets of Los Angeles hoping to meet the right one before the stroke of midnight. (IFC Films)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Alex Holdridge  
DIRECTED BY: Alex Holdridge  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: August 1, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, B/W 
ORIGIN: USA 

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...

88
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Wonderfully romantic and romantically bittersweet. It's not about forever; it's about now.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
We increasingly admire the quality of the acting: Both actors take their characters through a difficult series of changes, without ever seeming to try, or be aware of it.
Read Full Review
80
Empire Patrick Peters
Lovingly photographed in a monochrome that recalls Woody Allen’s Manhattan, this is a slickly scripted rom-com.
Read Full Review
80
Film Threat Eric Campos
The film also doesn't try to wrap things up nice and neat. That's not how life is and that's not how this film goes. But for those who can handle the truth, they should be prepared for a very moving experience. And Freddy Krueger references.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Smart dialogue, an impeccably crafted story, and eye-catching LA locations make this low-budget feature by Alex Holdridge the most worthwhile date movie I've seen in some time.
Read Full Review
78
Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
Holdridge is clever enough to keep his characters from slipping into outright narcissism, or when they do, he's familiar enough with the art of mainstream moviemaking to balance the exhausted with the ecstatic.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
The rude naturalism of the opening scenes between Wilson and Jacob recalls the spirited vulgarity of "Clerks," with dialogue that would be hopelessly offensive were it not so funny and true to life.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Kyle Smith
Takes a bit of "Swingers" and a bit of "Manhattan" to create a slacktacular vision of uncertain youth in today's L.A.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
A romantic comedy with film noir shadows.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
With a moody overlay of songs supplied by Okkervil River and Shearwater, In Search of a Midnight Kiss also serves as a millennial's answer to Woody Allen's "Manhattan."
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
It's a handsome and entertaining small-scale picture with nice acting, some crisp (and some crude) dialogue and effective direction.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood
An amusing ensemble piece about the troubles of dislocated twentysomethings attempting to find their way through life and love.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Dennis Harvey
Performances are aptly quirky and ingratiating, Holdridge's seriocomic balance nicely judged. But the most outstanding element in an accomplished low-budget package is Robert Murphy's lensing, which recalls "Manhattan" in its B&W celebration of a cityscape.
Read Full Review
70
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Profane, hilarious and ultimately heartbreaking, Alex Holdridge's black-and-white feature In Search of a Midnight Kiss has a gutter purity that makes you root for it all the way and forgive its patches of ultra-indie awkwardness.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Mike Mayo
Despite some scenes that have the feel of an acting or writing workshop, these are believable, complex characters. Their story has a full measure of Judd Apatow raunch, with a dash of "Swingers" emotional sweetness.
Read Full Review
67
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Even when Midnight Kiss is sputtering, viewers can tune the dialogue out and just watch the scenery in one of the most "there"-y L.A. movies ever made.
Read Full Review
67
Portland Oregonian Stan Hall
Very much a time-and-place film, by 2030 it will be useful fodder for historians.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
In Search of a Midnight Kiss has its derivative moments along with awkward patches -- the inelegantly shaped climax tries to force uninteresting parallels between the two central couples -- it manages the difficult task of creating a sustained, plausible and inviting world.
Read Full Review
60
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
By the end, Holdridge has captured the bittersweet complexities of romance with a wisdom that proves surprisingly seductive.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Staff (Not credited)
Painfully undermined by its central characters.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Scott Foundas
Holdridge's film oscillates wildly between low-key romantic comedy and antic slapstick and doesn't always hit the mark, but it has charm to burn.
Read Full Review
50
Premiere Jenni Miller
The arc of the story mirrors "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset," but the writing isn't nearly as strong, nor the characters as believable -- or likable.
Read Full Review
50
The New Yorker Anthony Lane
In Holdridge's movie there is as much to repel as there is to allure, and I cannot imagine leaving a screening of it in anything less than two minds.
Read Full Review
50
Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen
If it were a parody of relationship-youth pictures, In Search of a Midnight Kiss would maybe be tolerable, but writer-director Alex Holdridge seems to be playing it with a straight face.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
It wanders and putters and follows its main characters around.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Discuss this movie in our forums

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

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use