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Judy Berlin
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
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  1. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    Tightly constructed and controlled.
    All this critic's reviews
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    100
    It isn't often that lives of quiet desperation are served up with such pearly restraint.
  3. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    100
    Some movies are too good to miss. Judy Berlin is one of them...It works like magic.
    All this critic's reviews
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    91
    Haunting and hopeful.
  5. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    90
    An almost perfectly realized poetic vision of people who continue in their everyday existence certain that life in a larger sense has passed them by.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    90
    Where "American Beauty" was smug and obvious in its dissection of suburban life, Judy Berlin is hilarious, heartbreaking and -- in its graciousness -- unlike any American film we've seen in a long time.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    90
    A comedy of the most delicately balanced perfection.
  8. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: John Petrakis
    88
    Beautiful little film.
    All this critic's reviews
  9. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    85
    Captures the emptiness of small-time lives as evocatively as Peter Bogdonavich's "Last Picture Show."
  10. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    80
    Philosophy imbues this inescapably self-reflexive movie with a rare compassion.
  11. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Graham Fuller
    80
    Etched with sensitivity and wit, above all with an unpatronizing compassion for ordinary people going about their business on an extraordinary day.
  12. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Henry Cabot Beck
    80
    Unlikely to draw the audience it deserves, but those who do see it will have a hard time shaking its gentle, ghostly echoes.
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    80
    Something to get excited about.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    78
    A gorgeously crafted love poem.
  15. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Strikingly original movie.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    Its leisurely pace and surreal poetry won't break box-office records, but will surely serve to introduce Mendelsohn as a major new talent.
  17. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    Laced with magic-realist bittersweetness.
    All this critic's reviews
  18. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    75
    With skill and also with love, writer-director Eric Mendelsohn creates a delicate and airy mood, a kind of cinematic haiku.
  19. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    75
    Broadway-sized performances.
    All this critic's reviews
  20. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    75
    Possesses moments of fleeting grace, pathos and beauty, even if it ultimately doesn't amount to much.
    All this critic's reviews
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    70
    A gentle, offbeat drama that hails the arrival of a new talent in writer-director Eric Mendelsohn, and bids a poignant farewell to a uniquely gifted actress, the late Madeline Kahn.
  22. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: Ted Gideonse
    70
    Gorgeous, mesmerizing, and stunningly well acted.
    All this critic's reviews
  23. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    70
    Numerous lovely, quirky moments.
  24. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    63
    Boasts several fine performances and some elegant, eerie black-and- white photography.
    All this critic's reviews
  25. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    60
    Mendelsohn's fusion of science fiction and Chekhovian melancholy finds a fresh perspective on a familiar theme.
  26. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    50
    A bit precious, ultimately wearisome.
  27. Film.com
    Reviewed by: John Hartl
    50
    Like "American Beauty" without the fangs - or the magic.
  28. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    50
    Arch yet earnest.
  29. TNT RoughCut
    Reviewed by: Don Kaye
    50
    More of a moody performance piece than a film.
    All this publication's reviews
  30. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    40
    The film is one-note; misery is the only game in town.
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