83
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumDamien Chazelle's extraordinary black-and-white retro dream of a feature debut.
- 91If John Cassavetes had directed a jazz musical by Jacques Demy, it might have looked something like this.
- 90The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisVisually distinctive and aurally delightful, "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" has style to burn. A soulful black-and-white commentary on love, art and their competing demands, this Boston-based musical from Damien Chazelle floats on a wave of spontaneity and charm.
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanGuy and Madeline is at once self-conscious and breezy, clumsy and deft, diffident and sweet, annoying and ecstatic. It's amateurish in the best sense, and it radiates cinephilia. No movie I've seen this year has given me more joy.
- 88The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen ColeThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen ColeGuy and Madeline is a decidedly modern film, whose frightened, impulsive, charming characters could walk into our lives tomorrow.
- 80Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyLos Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyYou might want to tuck Damien Chazelle's name into your memory bank if his filmmaking debut, the terrific jazz improvisation that is Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, is any indication of what his future might hold.
- 75Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisNot only does the movie look like it's set somewhere, it feels, cinematically, to have arrived from someplace - early John Cassavetes, the French New Wave, Eastern Europe.
- 70Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoBoxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoEqually nostalgic and fresh-faced, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is a bohemian musical that owes as much to Cassavetes "Shadows" as it does the French musicals of the '30s.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThat the duo will work their way back to each other is never in doubt, although Chazelle doesn't succumb to easy sentiment. If anything, he moves too far in the other direction, aiming for a wizened ambiguity that doesn't entirely come off.