Closer
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) | Release Date: December 3, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
They are all so very articulate, which is refreshing in a time when literate and evocative speech has been devalued in the movies. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
Funny, hurtful, splendidly acted. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Closer is an un-love story as honest and naked as Cupid in the devil's dock, the whole truth, and nothing but. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Mike Nichols' haunting, hypnotic Closer vibrates with eroticism, bruising laughs and dynamite performances from four attractive actors doing decidedly unattractive things. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Few directors are more adept at playing with all this anguish and exhilaration than Mike Nichols. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
From Marber's fiercely polished writing, Nichols wrings every drop of acid, yet it's a show of the director's goodness that a movie fundamentally preoccupied with interpersonal ugliness is allowed to end on a convincing note of beauty. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is most definitely NOT a date movie. But if you appreciate films that are more substance than style, that take challenges and don't follow formulas, and that feature Oscar-caliber performances, Closer is not to be missed. Read full review
80
NewsweekSean Smith
Here's a surprise: of the four actors in Closer, Clive Owen is the least famous, but he delivers the most memorable performance. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
Closer is marred by some drippy music courtesy of Damien Rice and a small-surprise ending that feels like gimmicky irony. But the film's core idea is compelling. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Dramatically leaps through time, covering months or sometimes years in the span of a single cut. The effect is jarring and exhilarating, but it also bucks the common idea that relationships deepen over time. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Full of intellectual stimulation as well as low, dark pleasures--"Carnal Knowledge" redux! Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
If you're the sort of person who laughs at funerals, train wrecks, earnest political documentaries and stories about the rape of nature, you'll love Closer. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
An intelligently written, well-acted, and thoughtful film about adult relationships. I’m surprised it came out of Hollywood. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
It’s almost as structurally daring as "Memento," demanding that the audience fills in the gaps. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Most of the dialogue is pretty fresh, and it’s delivered with great brio, particularly by Owen. Roberts, alas, is not at her best here, but she has almost nothing to work with. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Closer, in the end, lacks a certain heft. The language and the actions of the characters are brutal and devastating. The movie itself, a little too nice. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's too emotionally honest and psychologically dense for its own good. It's a movie that demands more than one viewing to absorb all its ideas and feelings. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
An impeccably acted and directed - but quite icy - portrait of deception and betrayal. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Despite Marber's sardonic wit and Nichols's intelligent direction, the film winds up in the ironic position of practising exactly what it preaches: Closer invites and even gains our intimacy, only to finish by driving us ever farther away. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The caustic wit and brute force of Patrick Marber's acclaimed play come across with a softened edge in Mike Nichols' bigscreen version of Closer. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Closer casts a smugly amused eye on the human capacity for betrayal. But because it also seeks to congratulate its audience for its urbane unshockability, it never strays beyond the limits of middlebrow complacency. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Overall, Owen and Law are more nuanced than Roberts and Portman, but Portman's dewy youth is 90 percent of Alice (the remaining 10 is an eleventh-hour twist), and Nichols uses the unkindly costumed Roberts so skillfully that her performance looks like a revelation. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The finish is so asymmetrical that it, too, seems a comment on the kind of film this might once have been. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The last thing Marber's quartet of modern miserables needs is to be admired; they are the very worst of average people, but on screen they have become the very best of the baddest. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
While its execution is fine, the movie is almost shockingly vapid. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's in its aspiration to depict deceit and obsession, selfishness and recklessness, bitterness, revenge and fury that the film's power lies. There and in Clive Owen's sure and powerful hands. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Offers a bleak though thought-provoking take on relationships. The challenge for the viewer is in caring enough to become invested in characters who seem hellbent on hurting one another. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
It's the most claustrophobic, airless movie of the year, a menage a quatre among unstable, manipulative, needy people who prey on each other like sharks at a feeding frenzy of the emotions. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Unlike most movie love stories, Closer does have the virtue of unpredictability. The problem is that, while parts are provocative and forceful, the film as a whole collapses into a welter of misplaced intensity. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
Closer is in the same arena as Labute, and I found it sour and airless, with the feel of a mathematical proof. The acting is superb, though, with one key exception. Jude Law. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Despite involved acting and Nichols' impeccable professionalism as a director, the end result is, to quote one of the characters, "a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully." Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The actors are brilliant, the dialogue extremely clever, and the direction assured. But by the end I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The Nichols of 1971 was bold and speedy, keeping pace with Jack Nicholson's contempt, whereas the more civilized Nichols of 2004 seems a beat behind the lines, waiting for peace or charity to break out. They never do. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Determined to be faithful to the strong, often shocking language and in-your-face drama in Marber's mannered writing, Nichols and his actors find no way to lift Closer into a realm that enlightens. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Strip away the cavernous lofts, the minimalist art galleries and the pricey consulting rooms, and you have four characters unable to earn their keep with the audience. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
One of the most pessimistic movies about love Hollywood has ever made, a star-studded, glossy anti-date movie. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Despite four very strong performances, Closer is hard emotional work to sit through. It's impossible to empathize with either the viciously insecure Larry or the unscrupulous, childlike Dan. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Whenever Roberts is onscreen, Closer freezes and starts to atrophy. And when she's off, tender shoots of life begin to sprout. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The word "yuppie" has fallen out of favor from overuse, but Closer's young urban professionals are so vain and superficial they may bring it back as the ultimate putdown. This movie is a yuppie nightmare. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
So bloodless that it feels like an act of arty dishonesty. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Everything is tearful confessions, angry interrogations and breakups. But there's nothing underneath. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Bring Zoloft and a tank of oxygen to Closer, an airless, ultimately joyless drama of sexual politics.
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