CBGB
XLrator Media | Release Date: October 4, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
30
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
5
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirOct 10, 2013
CBGB has more of the original prankish punk spirit than it even recognizes. Read full review
60
NPRMark JenkinsOct 11, 2013
Rickman is too theatrical, and too British, to vanish entirely into the person of Hilly Kristal. But he's entertaining to watch, and ultimately one of the more persuasive actors in a movie that suffers from as many odd casting decisions as Lee Daniels' The Butler. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 11, 2013
Alan Rickman's lead performance highlights a sincere but insubstantial rock pic. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 10, 2013
You can’t help feeling as if Miller has missed an opportunity. Punk rock was all about manic energy, unbridled (and often unfocused) passion. CBGB plays more like a folk tale. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloOct 9, 2013
Punk may not be dead, but this picture is D.O.A. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierOct 10, 2013
As a film, the result is static, like Ang Lee’s similarly muddled “Taking Woodstock.” Read full review
37
Film.comKate ErblandOct 8, 2013
The absolute antithesis to the pioneering punk spirit it tries to portray. Read full review
30
The DissolveKeith PhippsOct 8, 2013
No doubt a decent movie could have been made about the behind-the-scenes life of CBGB, but CBGB isn’t it. It’s as flip about the club as it is about Kristal, the music, and the time and place that shaped it all. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 3, 2013
In its stylistically flailing stab at authenticity, CBGB ends up merely a mess of caricatures. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireOct 11, 2013
CBGB ain't no party, it ain't no disco, it ain't no foolin' around. It also isn't authentic for a second, and it provides zero insight into the birth of the New York City punk scene in the 1970s. Read full review
25
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeOct 10, 2013
The most distressing bad choice in CBGB, a movie entirely composed from them, is that those brilliant songs are repurposed studio recordings. Read full review
25
The PlaylistCharlie SchmidlinOct 10, 2013
Director Randall Miller (“Bottle Shock”) could do worse than render the early-'70s punk scene as breezy broad comedy. He adopts that tactic and still falters though, deflating any energy or humor possible with his limp direction, sitcom consistency, and unfocused tone. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineTomas HachardOct 8, 2013
As the film moves from one musical performance to another, the result increasingly feels like a series of celebrity impersonations set to a best-of-punk compilation album. Read full review
20
VarietyScott FoundasOct 15, 2013
Transforms the glory days of Hilly Kristal’s Bowery punk/No Wave club into exactly the sort of moldy sitcom one might expect from writer-director Randall Miller. Read full review
20
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 10, 2013
There is no story to speak of. Just a series of anecdotes that gain very little when acted out on screen. Read full review
20
Village VoiceBrian McManusOct 8, 2013
CBGB's biggest problem is that it's taken such electrifying source material and done absolutely zilch with it. Read full review
20
Time OutEric HynesOct 8, 2013
The film strives to cinematically reanimate that shabby underground lair; instead, it proves to be the most bastardized souvenir bauble of all. Read full review
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