81
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanLiving in Oblivion celebrates the very act of filmmaking as grand folly, a triumph of absurdist heroism.
- 90The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinWonderfully funny behind-the-scenes look at the perils of film making, no-budget style.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThis movie is keen, clever, and -- most important of all -- a nonstop exercise in hilarity.
- 88San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleLiving in Oblivion is a rarity, a dark comedy that takes place almost entirely on a film set. Written and directed by Tom DiCillo, this is a very funny picture that presents the world of independent film making as a nightmare of conflicting egos, budgetary squalor and incompetence.
- 80Time OutTime OutThe ingenious narrative, told from differing perspectives and incorporating tales within tales and teasing elisions between film and reality, is actually informative about the nuts and bolts of shooting a movie, and not only as a catalogue of technical disasters - through the shamefully under-rated Keener, we get a real insight into screen acting and the way fatigue, memory, stress and surroundings can take their toll. Hers, however, is merely the finest of a whole host of spot-on performances. A treat.
- 80Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonSavagely funny satire of the world of independent filmmaking.
- 75Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenDirector Tom DiCillo ingeniously structures the film as a trio of overlapping shorts that cumulatively suggest ripples emanating from a stone tossed in a pond.
- 75San Francisco ExaminerSan Francisco ExaminerConstructed as a sequence of deepening, worsening bad dreams, Living in Oblivion sometimes runs the risk of feeling arbitrary, and the film loses some steam in its final section. But mostly it's a smart, funny send-up of the trials and joys of filming on big egos and low budgets - subjects that writer-director Tom DiCillo and his collaborators presumably know first-hand.
- 70VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyAn amusing look at the perils of film production, Living in Oblivion is an inside joke with a generosity of heart that makes it accessible to anyone who would take an interest.