Medicine for Melancholy
IFC Films | Release Date: June 20, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
There are no simple answers or obvious conclusions to be gleaned from this movie, which, like its soundtrack, is both sad and vibrant, meandering and formally sure-footed. It is an exciting debut, and a film that, without exaggeration or false modesty, finds interest and feeling in the world just as it is. Read full review
80
Village VoiceErnest Hardy
Tender, smart, soulful. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Medicine For Melancholy offers a personal spin on the "walking around a city" genre. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The film falters only when it eavesdrops briefly on a passionate public discussion of rent control and gentrification. The moment is out of keeping with the carefree nature of the rest of the movie. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Under the subdued, dignified surface, this movie - about the 24 hours after a one-night stand - churns with a filmmaker's fascination and wonder, sadness and longing. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The narrative, at times, veers into overstatement, but for the most part we're allowed to eavesdrop on their self-examination guilt-free. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Jenkins has an admirable feeling for, as the French would say, mise en scène, and a gift for placing actors in naturalistic settings. What he lacks at this point is a strong story sense. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Medicine for Melancholy is one of those feature debuts that equally hints at the filmmaker’s influences and the idiosyncratic direction they will eventually head on their own. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
So subtle and subdued that it nearly undercuts itself. I'd describe it, in fact, as a film that doesn't quite work -- but the way it doesn't work is so distinctive and so interesting that it marks Jenkins as an exciting new face on the American indie scene. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Wyatt Cenac, the latest addition to "The Daily Show" With Jon Stewart, is the best reason to see this easygoing romantic comedy. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film does not lack for ambition both in terms of its themes and artistic design. Consequently, his (Jenkins) feature debut, while not flashy, shows promise. Clearly, here is a young filmmaker who wants to tell stories rather than deliver shocks and sensation. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Jenkins is so desperate to give his love story a social and economic context that he stops the movie cold for a bunch of unrelated white people to articulate their grievances over gentrification--it's as if "Annie Hall" had paused for a seminar on agrarian reform. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Yet it's pretty in all the wrong ways: pretty slight, pretty preachy and pretty affected. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Cenac is witty and Heggins has a wary stillness, but the movie itself seems too shy to let them really engage each other. Read full review
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