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Love and Death on Long Island
Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
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  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    Hurt gives an astonishingly sensitive and funny performance as the bedazzled intellectual, and first-time filmmaker Kwietniowski unfolds the story with an unfailing blend of humor and compassion.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    100
    A highly original Death in Venice-scented comedy drama written and directed with flair by British feature novice Richard Kwietniowski.
  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    90
    Writer-director Richard Kwietniowski has never made a feature before, but this debut effort is a triumph, a buoyant and elegant achievement -- romantic and ruminative yet always precise, a comedy of longing propelled by a strong current of satirical observation.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    90
    An unpredictable, often funny, always winning film, Love And Death On Long Island is filled with low-key humor and sharp observations about the state of art at the close of the millennium.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    90
    Love and Death on Long Island is sharp, sophisticated and completely delicious, a purposeful comedy that focuses on the power of screen images to uproot lives and the poignancy of amour fou, totally mad love.
  6. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    90
    A witty, canny meditation on the power of pop culture in general and the rationalizations of cinephilia and film criticism in particular.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    These opening scenes of Love and Death on Long Island are funny and touching, and Hurt brings a dignity to Giles De'Ath that transcends any snickering amusement at his infatuation.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    80
    John Hurt is simply wonderful -- acerbic, funny and heartbreaking.
  9. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    80
    The first-time writer-director, Englishman Richard Kwietniowski, has adapted Gilbert Adair's novel with wit, economy and a delicate understanding that the funniest comedies are played with dead seriousness.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    80
    This is arguably Hurt's best role in years, and he bites into it with relish, managing to seem both manipulative and vulnerable, dour and droll at the same time.
  11. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    78
    The height of drollery, a cheeky ode to the liberating power of popular culture, and a fascinating look at an old dog learning some new tricks.
  12. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    75
    Directed with style and wit by London filmmaker Richard Kwietniowski, who makes his feature debut here, Love and Death is an off-kilter romantic comedy.
  13. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Barbara Shulgasser
    75
    The script, by director Richard Kwietnioski and adapted from the Gilbert Adair novel, is poignant and well constructed.
  14. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    Despite the many laughs Love and Death offers, it never takes cheap shots. It has a vibrant, beating heart - and that makes the comedy all the more worthwhile.
  15. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: John Haslett Cuff
    75
    It is a slight, charming, filmic oddity, well acted and intelligently written
  16. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    70
    With Love and Death on Long Island, writer-director Richard Kwietniowski makes a very pleasing feature debut.
  17. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    First-time director Richard Kwietniowski has fun with the collision of high and low culture, and he does elegant work.
  18. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Daphne Merkin
    70
    Directed with an original touch by Richard Kwietniowski, the movie is less about the nature of homoerotic longing than about the closeted nature of love itself.
  19. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    The interactions between the raspy-voiced Hurt and various shallowly cheerful Americans are genuinely charming and dynamic.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. JayH.
    4
    What a nasty unpleasant film. I am usually not this far off from the critics. I found it boring and useless. Go figure. John Hurt was good, but the film was so pretentious and uninvolving. Yuk.… Full Review »
  2. JaredC.
    2
    Terribly corny and awfully precedented. Avoid at all costs.
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