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Margarita Happy Hour
Metascore
66 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
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  1. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jessica Winter
    80
    Chaiken ably balances real-time rhythms with propulsive incident -- she catches subtler interior strains, too.
  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    Chaiken manages to make the film conversational without seeming talky, the curse of many New York filmmakers, and she has as sure an instinct for the succinct image and brisk pacing as she does for dialogue.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    80
    Emerges a surprisingly in-depth, wistful look at outgrowing a youth-only subculture.
  4. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    80
    Here's a knowing look at female friendship, spiked with raw urban humor.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    75
    At once, a joyful celebration of female friendship and an unusually honest look at newly responsible young women wistfully saying goodbye to the dreams of their youth.
  6. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    Stunning, beautifully observed character study.
  7. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    70
    The film's ensemble portrait of women caught between nostalgia for the tough and free-spirited babes they were (however much that freedom may have been illusory) and uncertainty about what their futures hold is almost painfully on target.
  8. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
    70
    Breaks in the film's otherwise smooth continuum, however, are bridged by Hutchins' soulful performance, and by Chaiken's excellent feel for the grace notes and steady tempo of native New York life, the sacredness of female friendship, and the precarious balance between love for oneself and for others.
  9. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    70
    Ms. Chaiken isn't much interested in melodramatic plot developments. Her talent lies in an evocative, accurate observation of a distinctive milieu and in the lively, convincing dialogue she creates for her characters.
  10. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    67
    Square peg, round hole. That's what the twentysomethings who drift through Margarita Happy Hour are like.
  11. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    60
    Feels like a hazy high that takes too long to shake.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    50
    The trouble is that while Chaiken's community is nuanced, it's not exactly a warm, inviting place to spend time. It's dingy and dismal, and though not exactly humorless, Margarita Happy Hour misses many chances to be funny, at times when a laugh or two would open the picture up.
  13. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    38
    The production is as gaily colored as the margaritas, but the overall result is wan.
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