Hearts Beat Loud
Stage 6 Films | Release Date: June 8, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJun 21, 2018
A refreshingly down-to-earth comedy-drama about family, ambition and the liberating power of music. Read full review
83
Original-CinJim SlotekJun 28, 2018
What gives Hearts Beat Loud its life is the father-daughter interaction and chemistry between Offerman and Clemons. Their original jam session makes the audience sit up and take notice. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 14, 2018
Movies don’t have to be bigger and bolder than we ourselves are. Haley’s films are things we can reach toward – there’s an intimacy and candor about them that feels welcoming. Read full review
80
TheWrapSam Fragoso
It gets away with missteps because of how consistently heartwarming and affable the people on screen are. Clemons and Offerman are especially effective, with Frank’s earnestness comically shot down by Clemons’ quick-witted preciousness. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteJun 20, 2018
It all adds up for a tender and loving family portrait of growing up and letting go. Read full review
75
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJun 21, 2018
But the real star of this thing is Clemons, so natural and expressive, whether speaking or singing. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJun 14, 2018
Hearts Beat Loud (despite is gooey title) has a bittersweet tone that tells us that Frank’s dreams are mostly wishful thinking. In that way, Hearts is of a piece with other movies by writer-director Brett Haley, wherein the art has the power to ameliorate rather than transform. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 13, 2018
One of the nicest things about Hearts Beat Loud, and there are several nice things, is the way that Offerman and Clemons seem like father and daughter. This is the work of the actors, but also of the director. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 12, 2018
Its smallness is its strength — as is its silence. That’s the odd and evocative resonance of Hearts Beat Loud. For a movie that is so rock-and-roll, it turns out to be less about making noise than about listening to the message that can only be heard in the stillness that comes after the song. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 7, 2018
A hack would have turned Frank and Sam into overnight sensations. Instead, the writer-director recognizes the compromises that reality forces on dreams – and this soft breeze of a movie emerges as a scrappy surprise that's hard to shrug off. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJun 14, 2018
You’ve heard this song before and can predict all the emotional high notes before they hit, but sometimes that’s all you need from a summer bop. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpJun 7, 2018
As a showcase for its leads, it’s delightful. All it’s missing is a touch of honest-to-goodness gravity to keep the story anchored. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 7, 2018
Energized by Offerman and Clemons, the effectiveness of the music and the emotional freshness of "Hearts Beat Loud" are finally triumphant. Sometimes wearing your heart on your sleeve is the only way to go. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Heartfelt and unassuming but likely to prompt a few complaints that it doesn't ring true. Read full review
70
VarietyAmy Nicholson
Clemons has been a luminous presence who could bloom into a great grown-up actress. Hearts Beat Loud proves she’s the real deal. As for the film around her, Haley’s 21-drum solo salute to the passage of time is, like Frank, merely fine. But he admirably keeps his characters’ victories small and their losses familiar, making his movie a ballad everyone can hum to. Read full review
67
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerJun 11, 2018
Clemons’ performance is a subtle, warm wonder. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloJun 5, 2018
Hearts Beat Loud is smart, sincere, expertly performed (though Ted Danson, in a small role as Frank’s favorite bartender, gets little to do apart from echo Sam Malone), quietly progressive (Sam’s ethnicity and sexuality elicit no onscreen comment whatsoever), and just thoroughly… nice. Read full review
67
The Film StageDan Mecca
This film is often slight but always welcoming. The two leads have a pleasant chemistry that elevates each exchange and build out a meaningful–and meaningfully deep–relationship that’s easy to engage with and root fo Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJun 22, 2018
The film hums to tepid indie-pop and is sentimental to a fault, but the cast is a soulful bunch (including Toni Collette and a wonderful Ted Danson) who breathes life into a film that is all heart. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 13, 2018
Hearts Beat Loud is gentle, funny, humane, and predictable, kept from becoming tiresome by a cast of pros that includes not only Offerman but Toni Collette as Frank’s landlady and possible love interest and a frisky Ted Danson as a philosophic stoner who owns the neighborhood watering hole. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 8, 2018
Haley’s movies have an old-fashioned comfort food quality, and this sits happily on the menu with his earlier works. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJun 8, 2018
Hearts Beat Loud could use more urgency in the telling, more sense of what is at stake for the characters. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 14, 2018
You might need a sweet tooth for this gentle, Hornbyesque drama from writer-director Brett Haley. But it’s a likable heartwarmer and very decently acted. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyAug 9, 2018
There’s very little marring this as a pleasant experience all round, even if little, outside the performances, ramps it up into the realm of the truly memorable. Read full review
60
Village VoiceRen JenderJun 7, 2018
The real reason to see this film is Kiersey Clemons’s Sam and her romance with aspiring artist Rose (Sasha Lane). Read full review
50
IndieWireJude DryJun 7, 2018
By all rights, it should be a heartwarming comedy with a few more tender moments. Instead, Hearts Beat Loud operates like a sad drama with a few moments that might make you smile. We knew punk was dead, but the comedy doesn’t have to be. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 7, 2018
With its oversimplified emotions and dumbed-down depiction of the creative process, this inoffensive time-filler dissolves in the mouth like vanilla pudding. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 14, 2018
The music they create together is emblematic of the central problem. It’s sterile, manufactured and utterly fake production-line pop masquerading as some kind of indie rock spotify sensation. Read full review
38
Slant MagazinePat BrownJun 4, 2018
The steadiness with which Haley's film progresses through its dramatic beats is rather like its familiar-sounding indie pop, moving rhythmically toward a predictable climax whose emotional intensity feels unearned. Read full review
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