Buffalo '66
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: June 26, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
4
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyStaff (Not credited)
It's all somehow both familiar and dazzling, just as Ricci's kidnapped tap student, forced to pose as the protagonist's wife for his horrifically indifferent parents, is somehow both nondescript and heartbreaking. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
All bets are off. For my money, Vincent Gallo wins the Triple Crown of indie filmmaking -- for writing, directing and starring in Buffalo '66. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Schickel
This says nothing about Gallo's own demonic charm as Billy or his directorial boldness in juxtaposing the emotional surreality of his story with the bleak reality of his hometown in winter, creating a sort of casual but strangely haunting weirdness. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Alternately satirical and romantic, full of pain and humor, Buffalo '66 is a winner. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
Gallo’s movie is terrific, an original and disarming vision of a life that's all skids. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRon Wells
Gallo transcends the medium in a manner I only associate with David Lynch. It's brilliantly spooky. Read full review
80
The New York TimesElvis Mitchell
Cool, stark compositions and the occasional audacious visual trick give Buffalo '66 a memorable look even when its narrative enters the occasional uneventful stretch. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
As naked and bitter and mesmerizing a display of self-pity as you've seen outside as Edward Albee play. By the end of this willfully grimy yet oddly beautiful movie, Billy and Layla have earned grudging sympathy. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Personal and private almost to the point of self-absorption, the film is ultimately saved from neurotic narcissism by the director's self-deprecating humor and unapologetic honesty about his own dysfunction. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
In the end, it's a love story after all, but a peculiarly Gallocentric one -- cheap, nasty, but salvageable nonetheless. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Plays like a collision between a lot of half-baked visual ideas and a deep and urgent need. That makes it interesting…and the film contains an astonishing performance by Christina Ricci, who seems to have been assigned a portion of the screen where she can do whatever she wants. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Gallo's script is quirky and filled with a number of hilariously strange comic moments. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Alive to cinematic ideas, generous to its actors and peppered with unexpected humor, this ultimately sweet-natured low-budgeter is nonetheless riddled with enough off-putting and digressive material. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
By turns raw, naturalistic and indebted to John Cassavetes, both stylistically and thematically. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
Has an authentic rotgut flavor, but here's the question for the future: Will Gallo learn to criticize his own ideas or continue to pride himself on screwing up? Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
While watching Gazzara, Huston, Kevin Corrigan, Rosanna Arquette, and others take things two steps beyond over-the-top is inherently compelling, it becomes embarrassing before long. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Gallo's poor, poor pitiful me routine wears very thin, very fast, but Ricci is incandescent, a softly-glowing dumpling of a dream-girl in powder-blue fishnet tights and sparkly tap shoes: She's the diamond in the dirt. Read full review
38
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
The movie is an ill-advised work of egomania by someone who clearly has some talent, but not as much as he seems to think. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
For me the film creates more embarrassment than sympathy, but at least it's a kind of embarrassment that's instructive. Read full review
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