Bagdad Cafe
Island Pictures | Release Date: April 22, 1988 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Bagdad Cafe, which Adlon wrote with his wife, Eleonore, and Christopher Doherty, is a miracle of timing and control for all its aura of zany, off-the-cuff spontaneity. It is the work of a director who has such a clear idea of what he wants and where he's going that he can take his time to build up every joke for the maximum payoff. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The charm of Bagdad Cafe is that every character and every moment is unanticipated, obscurely motivated, of uncertain meaning and vibrating with life. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineStaff [Not Credited]
Bagdad Cafe is a visually exhilarating and consciously modern film, more concerned with projecting an atmosphere or spirit than with telling a story. It's hard not to fall in love with this comic fable about the magic that develops at the meeting of two cultures. Read full review
75
Washington PostRita Kempley
With its foibles and quirks, it's something like a Sam Shepard play by way of the Black Forest. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneDave Kehr
Much of the film`s charm resides in the fact that there is no reason for any of this to happen, except for the director`s sheer will that it be so. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Bagdad Cafe is too slow-paced to work as a comedy, and its screenplay manages simultaneously to be both shapeless and pat. Read full review
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