Eating

MK2 Diffusion | Release Date: November 30, 1990

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

63	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

William Arnold

There's no denying that Eating is a significant achievement: a movie that explores one of life's most important subjects in an intelligent, entertaining and original manner. [29 Mar 1991]

100

Michael Upchurch

Eating is American independent film at its best. It's one of those eccentric home-grown efforts - Roger and Me, and Sherman's March are others that come to mind - that spring straight from the American vernacular. [29 Mar 1991, p.3]

Bill Cosford

Jaglom isn't the first to suggest that food is at least as powerful as sex when it comes to enhancing life, or screwing it up. But he's the first to bring his giddy blend of documentary and farce to bear on the subject. Mmm-mmm, good. [08 Feb 1991, p.G12]

Ted Mahar

Eating is probably the best date movie in years. It is replete with food for thought, and its ideas are sure to keep percolating for days. [17 May 1991, p.13]

Matthew Gilbert

Eating is an eventful afternoon with a bunch of colorful characters. They're oh-so-enlightened, and they're oh-so-miserable. [10 May 1991, p.29]

Jay Boyar

The movie blends comedy with drama, and if it isn't the best party you'll ever attend, it does at least manage to sustain a party atmosphere. [20 Sep 1991, p.20]

Janet Maslin

Food assumes near-religious importance in Mr. Jaglom's portrait of needy, anxious women who spend an entire day playing upon one another's insecurities, and waxing rhapsodic about well-remembered culinary thrills. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

With Eating the ever-idiosyncratic independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom continues his intimate, spontaneous, witty but always compassionate observations of compulsive, neurotic human behavior--and reveals his ongoing fascination with women. Read full review

H.J. Kirchhoff

It's hard to say how much the talking-head segments are based on the actors' real-life eating experiences, but they save the film by displaying a depth of emotion, candour and ironic good humour that - unlike many of the scenes in Eating - appears to be genuinely felt. [12 Jul 1991]

Roger Ebert

The movie makes its point early and often: That its characters are hung up on food, and eat for unhealthy and obsessive reasons. It's true. We know it's true. We wait in vain for additional insights. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The ladies who lunch - and munch, breakfast, binge, dine, diet, starve and sample - are delicious in Eating, but writer-director Henry Jaglom labors over the stove too long, harming a tasty souffle. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Unfortunately, EATING lacks a main plot or any truly involving developments, and the film, after a promising beginning, loses steam. Read full review

Johanna Steinmetz

While the actresses seem authentic in these interviews, they are forced and unconvincing in Jaglom's script, which centers on characters who might kindly be described as narcissistic Harpies. [21 Jun 1991, p.G]

Rita Kempley

Directed by the touchy-feely Henry Jaglom, this is film as purgative -- a hens' party from hell, gorged on its own self-importance and damned hard to swallow. Read full review