Being Flynn
Focus Features | Release Date: March 2, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
13
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMar 1, 2012
There's no doubt that Being Flynn is an attempt at something painful and genuine – the movie itself yearns to make a connection, even if it can't quite locate the most effective channels. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 21, 2012
On the whole, the film feels detached and morose, just like its characters. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 8, 2012
Mostly, though, Being Flynn is memorable for the sight of a once-great actor rousing himself to a performance the movie itself isn't prepared to handle. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 1, 2012
Paul Weitz has dialed things down considerably for Being Flynn, writing and directing with an earnest sensitivity that at times suits, at times undermines, the complexities of the story at hand. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigMar 1, 2012
Robert De Niro has made several unwise choices in roles recently, and his belligerent wannabe writer in Being Flynn definitely adds to that list. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 1, 2012
There is honest feeling, genuine humanity and real intelligence in this movie, but there is also a sense of caution, of indecisiveness, that undermines its potential power. Being Flynn is an honorably ambivalent film, finally unsure of what to do with the two strong, complicated characters at its center. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 1, 2012
The movie's emotional content was manifest as an absence. What stayed with me most memorably was the father's insufferable bombast and the son's sad passivity. Read full review
50
TimeMary PolsMar 1, 2012
It's no wonder the movie is no walk in the park, even with a pretty soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy (again, like About a Boy). It never feels inspirational - it's too gritty and dark - and there isn't a single easy solution in sight for either Nick or Jonathan. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanFeb 29, 2012
Is it possible for an actor to go through the motions even as he's going over the top? In Being Flynn, Robert De Niro does phoned-in scenery chewing. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedFeb 29, 2012
Too small and dark to appeal to a large audience, it's not a movie to cherish. Read full review
50
Village VoiceKarina LongworthFeb 28, 2012
What the actors are unable to get across emotionally (which is a lot - Dano and De Niro, both of them all big actorly tics, often seem like they were filmed in different rooms), Weitz hammers home via near-constant music. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 1, 2012
Weitz – who did a great job adapting Nick Hornby's "About a Boy" into an affecting 2002 movie – can't bring the pieces together here. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichFeb 28, 2012
Sadly, most of the film's dull edges have to do with De Niro, who is clearly in rest-on-his-laurels mode; at his worst, he approaches radioactive, Robin Williams levels of bathos, as when Jonathan - roaring like a bush-league Lear - is banned from the shelter for bad behavior. Read full review
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