53
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyRobert De Niro and writer-director Paul Weitz find the most congenial material either of them has had in quite some time in Being Flynn.
- 75The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonWeitz's sense of play and the Badly Drawn Boy soundtrack each give Being Flynn an enjoyable lightness; meanwhile, the curdled, hidden rage lurking within both Flynns gives it an equally enjoyable edge.
- 60MovielineStephanie ZacharekMovielineStephanie ZacharekThere's no doubt that Being Flynn is an attempt at something painful and genuine – the movie itself yearns to make a connection, even if it can't quite locate the most effective channels.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceWhat the actors are unable to get across emotionally (which is a lot - Dano and De Niro, both of them all big actorly tics, often seem like they were filmed in different rooms), Weitz hammers home via near-constant music.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIs it possible for an actor to go through the motions even as he's going over the top? In Being Flynn, Robert De Niro does phoned-in scenery chewing.
- 40Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichSadly, most of the film's dull edges have to do with De Niro, who is clearly in rest-on-his-laurels mode; at his worst, he approaches radioactive, Robin Williams levels of bathos, as when Jonathan - roaring like a bush-league Lear - is banned from the shelter for bad behavior.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierWeitz – who did a great job adapting Nick Hornby's "About a Boy" into an affecting 2002 movie – can't bring the pieces together here.
- 25Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSlant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundIf Robert De Niro knew what was good for him, he'd certainly distance himself from this director and find a new path.