CQ

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

The film deserves some kind of honor for its campy originality, smart and funny dialogue, and provocative yet sensitive look at the making of a film circa 1969.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A frothy, sexy, '60s delight with a movie lover's heart.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Exceptionally likable and affecting as well as entertaining.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

May not make the splash it should; films about moviemaking rarely do. And that would be a shame, because the contrasts the director sets in motion and keeps playing against each other make an entertaining wrestling match.

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

It's a feel-good movie for people tired of paying to feel bad. Bring it on.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It may not be art, but it's vastly more entertaining than anything Coppola senior has done in far too long.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

CQ is a movie for movie-lovers, by a movie-lover: Roman Coppola, son of Francis Ford and a successful commercial and video director in his own right, making a witty, whimsical feature debut.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Good-natured and fun, the Austin Powers silliness of the era shines through, and Coppola family art director Dean Tavoularis ("Apocalypse Now," "The Godfather" trilogy) makes the film -- and its kitschy film-within-the-film -- look consistently terrific.

Film Threat Chris Gore

While I personally love this movie, I’m not sure how well received a film about a frustrated filmmaker seeking creative solutions in his personal life and work life is going to be to the average moviegoer.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Coppola, who has made clever music videos, including the one for Moby's ''Honey,'' clearly had a lot of fun detailing the mod cheesiness of this intergalactic period piece, though the satire would have been more ticklish if ''Austin Powers'' hadn't gotten there first.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Coppola sure knows his late-'60s cinema and he's meticulous in reconstructing the style of the era.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

CQ has a modicum of IQ and a dash of style -- the jury's still out on the extent of the inheritance, but the kid clearly learned something at his pater'sknee.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

May have more enthusiasm and attitude than good story sense, but it, too, is the work of someone who might be at this game for a long time.

Washington Post Hank Stuever

A certain sexiness underlines even the dullest tangents, bouncing along to the all-too-essential groovy soundtrack.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It looks great -- thanks in large part to production designer Dean Tavoularis and Wes Anderson cinematographer Robert Yeoman -- but just as importantly, it looks like it's interesting. Ultimately, it's not, but that almost doesn't matter.

LA Weekly John Powers

CQ is modest, especially for something bearing the grandiose family name, and it possesses both a tenderness and a quiet intelligence.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Not everything in this ambitious comic escapade works, but Coppola, along with his sister, Sofia, is a real filmmaker. It must be in the genes.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A triumph of art direction over narrative, but what art direction!

Boston Globe Chris Fujiwara

Triumphs over its own trendiness only by being vapid and superficial.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Pretentious and self-indulgent -- those two words come to mind when considering CQ.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

The result is stylish but awfully slim.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Coppola's satirical debut movie is too ambitious for its own good. The cast is good, though, and ambition isn't the worst fault a fledgling filmmaker can have.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A charming, spirited movie for cinephiles, or those who aspire to be. It's the kind of movie every kid in film school wanted to make but didn't have the father to produce.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Endearing but pointless, at once cluttered and tinny, this film-dork fantasia suggests a shopping spree at a high-end vintage emporium underwritten by Daddy's blank check.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Writer-director Roman Coppola is trying to capture a time he's too young to remember, when the French New Wave reinvigorated film art.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Roman Coppola's first film has sympathetic aims but is distressingly lacking in flair, style, wit or fun.