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Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The DissolveNathan RabinThe DissolveNathan RabinIt’s ambitious, drug-infused, psychedelic, and fractured in strange and interesting ways.
- The split screen is distracting enough, but it is the choppy scenes representing the passage of time that make the story hard to follow. More American Graffiti is not without its moments, though, and Cindy Williams' moment of realization -- when she defies authority to lead a police wagon full of women in singing Baby Love-- is a joy.
- 50While dazzling to the eye, the flirtation with split-screen, anamorphic, 16mm and 1:85 screen sizes does not justify itself in terms of the film’s content. What Norton and producer Howard Kazanjian are attempting, and what a variety of technicians pull off flawlessly, is daring, but ultimately pointless.
- 50NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenIn lieu of dramatic depth, Norton's film relies on its wonderful sound-track music to suggest the emotional truth of the era. Anyone who went through the '60s listening to Heat Wave and 96 Tears, to Cream and the Byrds and Aretha Franklin, will be instantly aroused: the memories they prompt are more stirring, troubling and complex than anything More American Graffiti chooses to show us. [27 Aug 1979, p.63]
- 50The Associated PressThe Associated PressThe sequel follows four unconnected stories in different locales, with resultant confusion. Especially since writer-director B.W.L. Norton has employed the outmoded multi-image screen. Still, the movie has moments -- car races, campus riots and especially in the war-zone sequences. [30 Jul 1979]
- 50The Seattle TimesJohn HartlThe Seattle TimesJohn HartlThe idea may have sounded great in film school. As written and directed by B.W.L. Norton, that's where it should have stayed. Still, the music of the period is well-used, and Charlie Martin Smith, Candy Clark and Cindy Williams rise above the script problems. [05 Dec 1991, p.F3]
- 42Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyA coming-of-age picture that never arrives.
- 40The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMore American Graffiti is grotesquely misconceived, so much so that it nearly eradicates fond memories of the original.
- 40TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineNorton's screenplay is predictable and the film suffers from its fragmented narrative. Some interest is provided by an unusual visual approach: the various segments employ separate film processes and aspect ratios in an attempt to supply visual analogues for the characters' situations.
- 30Washington PostGary ArnoldWashington PostGary ArnoldMore American Graffiti suffers from a terminal case of the cutes. Made with the approval of George Lucas, the director of American Graffiti, and perhaps with his misbegotten collusion, More American Graffiti succeeds in making a blithe mockery of its predecessor. [03 Aug 1979, p.D4]