72
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrOne of Robert Altman's most charming exercises in cabaret humor and off-the-cuff modernism.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWe get the sense of a live intelligence, rushing things ahead on the screen, not worrying whether we'll understand.
- 88USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkRobert Altman's first movie after M*A*S*H introduced Shelley Duvall and was among the director's personal favorites. All kinds of icons are satirically skewered, from Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz to Steve McQueen's sweater-clad Bullitt character. [04 Jan 2008, p.11D]
- 75Slant MagazineSlant MagazineWhat saves the film from curdled, wise-ass whimsy is the control Altman brings to the freewheeling material, to say nothing of the undercurrent of despair that keeps its absurdism bold and beguiling.
- Nothing Altman made before or after Brewster McCloud is quite so heightened with enjoyably sophomoric and bizarre humor.
- 75Boston GlobeMark FeeneyBoston GlobeMark FeeneyAs Altman misfires go, Brewster McCloud is one of the better ones. [25 Jul 2010, p.12]
- 70Time OutTime OutAltman's unexpected follow-up to MASH is pitched fairly successfully between escapist fantasy and satirical comment on the same.
- 67The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinIn the earthly realm, it’s a sledgehammer-subtle social satire filled with cartoonish Keystone Kops haplessly pursuing their elusive prey, and crudely drawn authority figures behaving like petulant children. On a more ethereal level, it’s an intermittently lyrical, strangely poignant fantasy powered by the beatific, magnetic presence of Cort and Shelley Duvall in an electric debut, and “Papa” John Phillips’ lovely songs.
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyAttempts to be a kind of all American, slapstick Orpheus Ascending, a timeless myth about innocence and corruption told in the sort of outrageous and vulgar terms that Brian De Palma and Robert Downey do much better.