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Tape
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 26
  3. Negative: 1 out of 26
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    Linklater has hardly been a slacker this year. I'll take the tricky confrontational babble of Tape over some of the gauzier soliloquies in ''Waking Life,'' but either way, he's a filmmaker in love with the music of talk, and let's bless him for that.
  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    90
    Linklater must have recognized a kindred spirit when he read Belber's play. He's given us a reality-fantasy game, a psychodrama, a harangue, and a detective story all rolled into one.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    90
    Emphasis on its combustible emotions, suspense and surprising humor should help draw sophisticated audiences who, once lured, will quickly find themselves hooked for the duration.
  4. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    89
    This is what great dialogue -- and by extension great movies -- is made of.
  5. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    The writing, acting and direction are so convincing that at some point I stopped thinking about the constraints and started thinking about the movie's freedoms.
  6. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    88
    A super-taut and superbly acted three-character piece.
  7. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    88
    Smart, unpredictable, and alive with the energies of actors who clearly are enjoying being stretched by their material.
    All this critic's reviews
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Dennis Lim
    80
    The movie takes shape as an entertaining psychological armwrestle between rank belligerence and blustery condescension.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    Thoroughly engrossing.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    In portraying this threesome, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard and Uma Thurman give the most psychologically acute performances of their film careers.
  11. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    No wonder Hawke was so hot to pass the script onto Linklater. He's superb, by the way.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    80
    None of the characters emerges as very sympathetic.
  13. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    75
    Tape may not be a great movie, but it's a great demonstration of creativity within severe limitations.
  14. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Linklater keeps it lively with imaginative camerawork and razor-sharp editing.
  15. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    An entertaining, post-modern mulling of the nature of truth, and whether truth is ever so fixed that it can be captured on tape.
  16. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    75
    Hawke is the movie's revelation.
  17. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    67
    Unfortunately can't transcend its theatrical roots and the actors, good as they are, seem like they're grandstanding.
  18. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    For all of Linklater's acrobatic camera moves, you never quite escape the feeling you're watching a barely adapted TV version of a somewhat gimmicky stage play.
  19. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    The action is confined to a single set and atmosphere is appropriately claustrophobic, but the image quality is harsh and flat. This accentuates the oppressive meanness of Vince's hotel room, but makes for some unpleasant viewing.
  20. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Anthony Miele
    60
    Overall, Tape is an interestingly staged play that, with the proper actors could have made a great film, instead of an adequate one.
  21. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    60
    The smart but slight film implodes under the weight of its own "excessive linguistic pressure."
  22. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    60
    For three jerks bitching in a box, Tape makes the most of its minimalism. At its best, it's Betrayal for the Breakfast Club set.
  23. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    58
    The best thing about the film is the acting of the guys.
  24. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    Despite its adrenalized actors, Tape is a tired return to the roots of the American indie movement's popular surge a dozen years ago. It could have been called "sex, lies and audiotape."
  25. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Paul Malcolm
    40
    A tedious exercise in ethical hand wringing.
  26. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    20
    A typical student film with its arty angles, bad lighting and pretentious observations.
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