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  • 2019
  • Not Rated
  • Cleopatra Entertainment
  • 1 h 35 m
  • 2019
  • Not Rated
  • Cleopatra Entertainment
  • 1 h 35 m

Summary Life imitates deadly art as French New Wave obsessed film student Terry (Jack Kilmer) and his best friend, the smooth talking Phil (Shameik Moore) are both seduced by mysterious actress Catherine (Jane Levy). The longer they know each other, the more they realize they don’t truly know the real Catherine. After years of sex, betrayal, and...

Directed By: James Franco

Written By: Josh Boone

  • 2019
  • Not Rated
  • Cleopatra Entertainment
  • 1 h 35 m
  • 2019
  • Not Rated
  • Cleopatra Entertainment
  • 1 h 35 m

The Pretenders

Metascore Overwhelming Dislike Based on 5 Critic Reviews
14
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Life imitates deadly art as French New Wave obsessed film student Terry (Jack Kilmer) and his best friend, the smooth talking Phil (Shameik Moore) are both seduced by mysterious actress Catherine (Jane Levy). The longer they know each other, the more they realize they don’t truly know the real Catherine. After years of sex, betrayal, and...

Directed By: James Franco

Written By: Josh Boone

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike Based on 5 Critic Reviews
14
0% Positive
0 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
60% Negative
3 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike Based on 5 Critic Reviews
14
0% Positive
0 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
60% Negative
3 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
50
Oct 4, 2019
Pretenders pretends to be Bertolucci’s The Dreamers in its meshing of a saucy young love triangle with an impassioned ode to cinema of yore. Alas, Mr. Franco’s not quite there yet.
By Alex Saveliev FULL REVIEW
50
Oct 3, 2019
While the film’s sense of experimentation carries a fair amount of intrigue, it traps its central threesome in an Easter egg-filled intellectual exercise punctuated by melodramatic strokes. It’s skillful enough to tickle the mind and the emotions but not effective enough to fully engage them.
By Mark Keizer FULL REVIEW
20
Oct 3, 2019
Not only does the film offer a superficial reading of all the famous movies that inspired it, but there’s also an incredibly bro-ish sentiment to the whole thing, as if Franco and Boone binge-watched half the Criterion Collection while slamming down brewskies on the couch.
By Jordan Mintzer FULL REVIEW
10
Oct 3, 2019
As nostalgic twaddle goes, “Me and Phil and the New Wave Girl” (I mean Pretenders) initially feels like an innocuous treatment of the joys and sorrows of cinephilia and young love. The sort of thing concocted by men whose collegiate experience taught them little beyond how to turn self-serving reminiscences into middling indie movies. Soon, though, it descends into several discrete modes of misogyny.
By Glenn Kenny FULL REVIEW
10
Oct 3, 2019
James Franco’s Pretenders begs the question: is this a film about bohemian artists or a parody of a film about bohemian artists? Because if we’re supposed to take this laughably trite and sexist claptrap seriously, one has to laugh.
By Katie Walsh FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company SSS Entertainment, Rabbit Bandini Films, Yale Productions, Hungry Bull Productions
Release Date Oct 4, 2019
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Website https://twitter.com/JoshBooneMovies/status/303320794497445888
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