Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Schultze Gets the Blues
Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
view
per page
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    Filmed in a leisurely, understated style, this dark comedy is downright entrancing. A spectacular directorial debut.
  2. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    100
    This deadpan ode to living life to its fullest could be the ultimate crowd-pleaser at this year's PIFF.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    The writer and director, Michael Schorr, is making his first film, but has the confidence and simplicity of someone who has been making films forever.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    88
    A delightfully deadpan comedy from Germany, is one of those movies where nothing whatsoever seems to happen until you look closely, at which point everything happens.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    83
    It's the warmest, most generous portrait of American hospitality you've seen from a European movie in some time.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    80
    Michael Schorr's delightfully deadpan comedy debut blew away the German box office, and once you let yourself sink into its gentle rhythms, as slow and deliberate as those of its protagonist and inflected with tiny but significant shifts of pace and tone, you'll see why.
  7. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    A sweet and charming treat.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Walter Addiego
    75
    A droll, deadpan film, deliberately paced and told.
  9. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    75
    Like the blues, you feel it first, and think of the meaning later.
  10. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    70
    A quietly celebratory film about music and human kindness.
  11. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    70
    With dialogue as spare as its harsh landscapes, the film is so tonally dry that it makes Aki Kaurismäki look like the Farrelly brothers--it begins at a snail's pace before speeding up to a turtle's drowsy crawl.
  12. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Edward Crouse
    70
    Ends up an intricate, becalmed take on a soul adrift.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    70
    Small but charming film.
  14. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    70
    A sweet movie that takes its time at first but soon takes you over.
  15. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    70
    Schorr's endearing little movie gets under your skin much like the music it celebrates.
  16. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    60
    Krause is completely believeable as the solid old man, and though the story moves slower than molasses, it leaves the same dark aftertaste.
  17. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Allison Benedikt
    50
    The scenery is pretty and the locals endearing, but Schorr never gets past charming.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    50
    Krause is very nearly too passive. Deadpan is one thing, an empty vessel is another.
  19. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    A sweet German movie by a first-time filmmaker, who, I would bet, is more than a little familiar with the early work of Jim Jarmusch or just about any Aki KaurismŠki film.
  20. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Jean Oppenheimer
    50
    Schultze has a spare style, deliberately slow pace, and so little dialogue that to say it's in German with English subtitles seems to be stretching the truth.
  21. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    50
    Simply too tedious and stretched out to be amusing. Had Schorr brought in his picture at 80 or 90 minutes Schultze might have been a different story.
  22. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    It's a good thing the movie has so little dialogue, because when it talks, the words dilute its almost surreal visual spell, and the fructose turns to saccharine.
prev next
Page:
  • 1

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 2 out of 13
  1. RozE.
    7
    I enjoyed this movie whilst watching it, and found my impatience of thinking "get on with it!" after a while very telling; this is exactly what the film-maker is probably trying to achieve! Once I settled into the rhythm, I enjoyed all the little vignettes. My only complaint was his death at the end: not that he died, but that it was a bit unclear that he had died, and that the funeral was actually his and not them giving him up for dead in his non-return & disappearance to the Bayou.... worth it, if you have a visual appreciation and long attention span!… Full Review »
  2. MauroC.
    7
    Moving, relaxing, original.
  3. DavidL.
    8
    Conrad K is simply ignorant and impatient. While this movie will not be mistaken for the greatest all time classic, it will also not be mistaken for pure stupidity. Take your head out of your ass, perhaps some directors may want to change things up a bit and focus the camera on the beauty of nature and place man second. Symbolism at its best. Can be slow at times but so is the point to which this movie is attempting to drive home. I agree with many former reviewers that it is quite admirable for the movie having ended in such a fashion of so little lights and glory and instead how a true retiree's life ends.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »