Comet
IFC Films | Release Date: December 5, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistKatie WalshOct 31, 2014
Anchored by career-best performances from Long and Rossum, and a juicy script that bravely dives into the darkest parts of breaking up and making up, Comet is an original and inventive retelling of an age-old and universal truth. Read full review
83
IndieWireMichael NordineOct 31, 2014
There’s an actual pulse and beating heart to Comet; it feels vibrant, alive. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoDec 5, 2014
It features career-best work by Long and Rossum, both eagerly devouring Esmail’s witty script. Yes, some of it is overwritten and a bit too clever for its own good, but more often it’s an engaging character piece. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineNick PriggeNov 30, 2014
Its time-jumping strategy cleverly illuminates the way in which we go over and fixate on isolated incidents in our minds of breakups past. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDavid DeWittDec 4, 2014
The visions (a meteor shower, Paris) are romantic and lovely, and there’s a sense of commitment to the enterprise that pretty much overcomes the near bathos and proves involving. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenDec 8, 2014
There is just enough in Comet to keep it from fizzling out entirely – largely in the performances of Long and Rossum – but its conceits also get in the way of its characters, making it feel fussy and convoluted when it aims for something more simple and elegant. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 18, 2014
Give credit to Esmail, however, for coming up with an inventive way to tell the story, even if the execution doesn't live up to the idea. He shows great confidence as a director, and the film has a unique look, with heightened reality providing clues that this really is a different world, or worlds, even. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianJeff BakerDec 12, 2014
The dialogue has its moments of perception, and Long and Rossum deliver it with conviction and spark. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 4, 2014
Sam Esmail’s fractured romance is beautifully shot and creatively structured, but he never gives us a single reason to root for his mismatched couple. Read full review
40
Village VoiceChuck WilsonDec 2, 2014
Sam Esmail’s first film has a visual assurance that suggests the arrival of a gifted director, but the characters he’s created are so off-putting that viewers aren’t likely to appreciate the beauty surrounding them. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyOct 31, 2014
Although there’s talent on display in all aspects of this time-jumping, visually distinctive independent that rests its commercial hopes on the names of leads Justin Long and Emmy Rossum, Esmail strenuously overplays his hand with the torrent of obnoxious dialogue he asks his male lead to deliver, which is enough to make one want to run out several times for a breather. Read full review
40
VarietyGeoff BerkshireOct 31, 2014
Lapses in the screenplay are mitigated only slightly by the natural chemistry between Long and Rossum. Read full review
20
The DissolveMatthew DessemDec 3, 2014
No amount of cosmic fireworks or woozy strings can hide the nice-guy passive-aggressive bullshit squatting at the center of Comet—it’s like a dreamy, swoony De Beers ad that stars Cecil Rhodes. Read full review
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