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Romance & Cigarettes Review

Movies.com Critics

3.5

Dave White Profile

… a budget Moulin Rouge for mooks. Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 3.0
    55

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Mixed or average reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 100

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

    Romance & Cigarettes is the real thing, a film that breaks out of Hollywood jail with audacious originality, startling sexuality, heartfelt emotions, and an anarchic liberty. The actors toss their heads and run their mouths like prisoners let loose to race free.

    Read Full Review

  • 30

    out of 100

    The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

    The sad result is a karaoke nightmare. Loud and pointlessly crude, the film takes the disintegration of a dysfunctional working-class family and gives it the song-and-dance treatment.

    Read Full Review

  • 42

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly

    With Walken around, hair up high, of course there are fleeting moments of fascinating weirdness, but even then, you're still moderately embarrassed for the cast.

    Read Full Review

  • 50

    out of 100

    Variety Derek Elley

    Chockfull of ideas and with an irreverence that irresistibly recalls late '60s American cinema, thesp John Turturro's third outing in the helmer's chair, Romance & Cigarettes, alternately shines and sputters.

    Read Full Review

  • 70

    out of 100

    Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

    Enthusiastically smutty and lyrical, the movie attempts to capture the way we unconsciously set the emotional moments of our lives to pop music, turning fits of passion, anger and righteous indignation into elaborate musical numbers in our heads.

    Read Full Review

  • 75

    out of 100

    ReelViews James Berardinelli

    It's almost unfair to make the comparison because there are so many fundamental differences, but the closest recent movie to Romance and Cigarettes is "Moulin Rouge." The key likeness is easy to spot: the characters spontaneously break into familiar pop songs.

    Read Full Review

  • 75

    out of 100

    Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

    But by the end, when Gandolfini and Sarandon sing their sweet, hesitant little duet, it’s clear Turturro knew where he was going all along.

    Read Full Review

  • 80

    out of 100

    The New York Times Stephen Holden

    There is more raw vitality pumping through Romance & Cigarettes, John Turturro's passionate ode to the sensual pulse of life in a working-class neighborhood of Queens, than in a dozen perky high school musicals. This is a movie in which a dirty mind is a good thing. Call it "The Singing Id." Prudes, be forewarned.

    Read Full Review

  • See all Romance & Cigarettes reviews at Metacritic.com

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