Anesthesia
IFC Films | Release Date: January 8, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
8
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJan 7, 2016
Lacking epic pretensions and modest in scale, running under 90 minutes, Anesthesia is really closer in spirit to Rodrigo García’s delicate 2005 gem, “Nine Lives.” And it doesn’t waste a word or an image. Read full review
75
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezApr 30, 2015
Well intentioned and commendable, Tim Blake Nelson’s film does not put his dialogue or writing strengths into question. But movies have to convince us on myriad levels, and this can be tough enough as it is. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyJan 5, 2016
Anesthesia comes from the heart, as few films do these days. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJan 5, 2016
Anesthesia doesn't cast judgment. Instead, Nelson slowly reveals awful things about his characters after we've decided to like them. I admire the film's vigor, even if at times it feels like a cruel, clumsy trick. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 30, 2015
The film is focused enough on relationships not to sound preachy. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 2, 2016
The cast (which includes Glenn Close, Sam Waterston, Kristen Stewart, and Corey Stoll) is strong, but the movie itself is a little exhausting, like a New York cousin to Paul Haggis’ Crash, with a smaller budget and a bigger vocabulary. Read full review
67
IndieWireCasey CiprianiApr 30, 2015
Despite a few stylistic inconsistencies, the conceit mostly works, but it helps that this time Nelson has rounded up a talented group of actors to play his troubled ensemble of characters. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJan 8, 2016
I want to recommend Nelson's film in spite of how misconceived it is simply because it asks interesting questions, albeit in some of the most banal ways imaginable. Read full review
60
TheWrapDan CallahanApr 30, 2015
The editing and the compositions here can be slightly ungainly, and some of the characters are not quite fully realized, but Nelson ultimately transcends the limits of his own material through sheer, cussed determination and lively anger. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelJan 29, 2016
The irony of Anesthesia is that, while it uses interconnectivity as a storytelling mechanism, the characters do not really connect. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedJan 15, 2016
Anesthesia is a pile of incomprehensible existential gibberish by the vastly untalented actor-writer-director Tim Blake Nelson about the meaning of life in an age of technology, told in the tiresome style of multiple characters who intersect at odd angles in a follow-the-dots plot centered on a single tragic action. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 14, 2016
The all-star cast is uniformly good, but the script lacks any sort of nuance to temper the pandering lecture. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 7, 2016
The intellectual ambition, the showy “smart” dialogue and collectively quotable characters played by actors we respect make Anesthesia watchable, and its existence as an indie film that attracted this cast, won financing and made it into theaters easy to explain. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJoe DziemianowiczJan 7, 2016
Anesthesia is sincere but numbing. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartJan 6, 2016
Despite the generally talented cast of Anesthesia, its linked-lives format, which we’ve seen so many times before, is frustrating: Too much adds up to not quite enough. Read full review
50
VarietyGuy LodgeApr 30, 2015
The ensemble labors sincerely to bring Nelson’s dense, frequently didactic writing to life, though it can be a hard task. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 28, 2016
This ensemble piece plays like “Crash” in a minor note, with one heavy-handed scene after another, all leading up to an ambivalent, unsatisfying ending. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJan 6, 2016
Still, it’s dispiriting to see him (Nelson) produce something as turgid and heavy-handed as Anesthesia, which employs a dozen or so cardboard characters as mouthpieces for singularly unilluminating thoughts about the ways in which people struggle to bury their unhappiness. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJan 5, 2016
Tim Blake Nelson's film immerses itself into as many pain-induced (and painful) subplots as it possibly can. Read full review
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