Flannel Pajamas

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

So truly and exceptionally fine, a spiny and dispassionate little masterpiece of a marriage movie.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Strong performances and sharp dialogue distinguish Jeff Lipsky's melancholy second feature, which charts the two-year course of a "perfect" relationship whose flaws are evident from the outset.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Curiously, the film seems to have no discernible point, and yet -- this is practically unique -- the absence of a point becomes, in itself, a form of narrative interest.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Mr. Lipsky’s screenplay, a messy collection of fragments arranged chronologically, adds up to one of the most intimate screen portraits of a relationship ever attempted.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The hero remains such an exhibitionistically cocky, walled-off jerk that Flannel Pajamas' glib conversational ''candor'' yields no mystery. And that's a problem in two hours of talk.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Love can be a battleground, and, despite its homey-sounding title and gentle, almost nonchalant air, Jeff Lipsky's Flannel Pajamas gives us a series of messages from the front.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

You never really end up rooting for their happiness, as a couple or individually, so emotionally there's not much at stake.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

In what essentially is a two-character play, Kirk and Nicholson behave more like acting partners than real people. Their lack of appetite for each other is particularly awkward in the frequent scenes requiring casual nudity and sexual activity.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The script is overwritten and has too many themes--suicide, abuse, anti-Semitism--to support, but Nicholson does remarkable work in an unsympathetic role, helped by Lipsky's fine control of his characters.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

What starts out seeming like a poor man's Woody Allen morphs into something closer to an American version of "Scenes From a Marriage."

Variety Todd McCarthy

Visually, the film is without flair or ambition, conveying no sense of atmosphere or mood. But the performances put it over.

Village Voice Rob Nelson

At a full two hours, Lipsky's talky movie is more compelling in its second half, when the spouses finally get around to being themselves.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The results are far from perfect: For one thing, Lipsky is so far from being a fluid visual storyteller that the garishly lit, appallingly composed Flannel Pajamas makes another two-hander talkfest Lipsky famously distributed -- "My Dinner With Andre" -- seem like "Lawrence of Arabia" by comparison.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

For all the time we spend watching Justin and Nicole negotiate their needs, we have no idea who these people are.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Ever been on a blind date that you knew would be dismal from the start? Well, this is the movie version of that date, stretched out over the slowest two hours imaginable.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

For much of Flannel Pajamas I wondered if the couple's big problem was that Stuart was secretly gay. Nothing so interesting - he's just a narcissistic control freak and she's off-puttingly needy.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The two main characters are so shallow and self-involved -- not to mention the friends, family members and sundry apparatchiks they lug around with them -- that the two hours of Flannel Pajamas begin to feel like real time.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Opaque acting, excruciating dialogue, and flat, affectless direction certainly don't help, but even in brilliant hands, Flannel Pajamas would still be a movie about two horrible, unsympathetic people doing dreadful things to each other, and learning nothing in the process. Why should anyone else have to endure it too?

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

The thing is, these chatty, pedantic, annoying characters are simply not interesting enough to follow for five minutes, let alone over two hours.