American Swing
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: March 27, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Plato's Retreat was a buffet of bodies, and the film catches the moment America could think that was tasty. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Doesn't have a particularly well-defined point of view, but it is a succinct, entertaining and valuable record of a time that in some ways now seems as remote as the Roaring '20s. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
American Swing could use the flair of similar portraits of disco-era debauchery like "Boogie Nights" or "Inside Deep Throat," but it’s even-handed in capturing the operation’s ambition and hubris. Just don’t bring an appetite. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterPeter Brunette
Often engrossing and humorous. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Directors Jon Hart and Matthew Kaufman don’t delve deeply enough into the psyche of club founder Larry Levenson or the culture he exploited. But they do present an entertaining snapshot of his brief reign as New York’s self-appointed King of Swing. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
But even a comic spin on grimace-inducing tales of the icky buffet, the "mattress room" (whatever you're imagining, that's it) and Levenson's own buffoonish image as a 10-ladies-a-night player -- "He never read a book," Al Goldstein cracks -- can't keep an unexplored sadness from slithering in amid the orgy of upbeat testimonials. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis Harvey
Mathew Kaufman and Jon Hart's documentary is just functionally assembled, lacking the style or larger social context that distinguished similar studies like "Inside Deep Throat." Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
The film tries--and fails--to swing both ways, nostalgically glorifying its subject only to smugly revel in Levenson's ignominious demise. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
It leaves you feeling queasy. Read full review
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