Mood Indigo
Drafthouse Films | Release Date: July 18, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 17, 2014
This is Gondry at his most liberated and inventive. You simply can’t grab hold of Mood Indigo in its early scenes, and you’re better off surrendering to its crackpot energy and enjoying the ride. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJul 15, 2014
Mood Indigo is bitter candy, a heartbreaker that uses sugar as a trap. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 8, 2014
It's all head-spinning and lovely - and a little exhausting, too. Read full review
75
Film.comJordan HoffmanJul 15, 2014
Despite being clever and crafty it can’t break out of the curiosity shop. It’s the finest diorama in there, but something to admire, linger over then move past. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJul 17, 2014
With its indefinable, almost indescribable combination of whimsy, sentiment and strangeness, "Mood Indigo" (co-written by Gondry and Luc Bossi) will not be to all tastes at all times. But frame for frame, the amount of invention going on here can't be believed unless it's seen. Read full review
70
The DissolveNathan RabinJul 15, 2014
Gondry’s latest demands a high tolerance for whimsy, and will undoubtedly prove anathema to his skeptics. Yet for those willing to abandon logic, suspend disbelief, and give themselves over to Gondry’s crazy, deeply immersive world of play, the result is a wildly inventive head film that’s mood-altering and mind-expanding in its own right. Read full review
67
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 15, 2014
While I thought it was gently moving at times, it feels like Gondry is hoping for a much more powerful impact, and the film just doesn't swing hard enough to make that happen. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJessica KiangJul 9, 2013
Gondry’s film is really a huge Rube Goldberg machine, full of lights and buzzers and levers that ping and whistle endearingly but are connected to nothing and serve no greater function in the larger apparatus. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 31, 2014
The sense, in the first half of the film, that love and contentment are attainable dreams slowly gives way to the more existential notion that happiness is really just a fairy tale. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJul 18, 2014
Even if you have a high tolerance for whimsy, Mood Indigo may still be too much. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 31, 2014
This is an incredibly creative film, but, unlike other Gondry films such as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the documentary "Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?" it doesn't add up to much. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsJul 28, 2014
If you enjoy Gondry’s brand of homemade art direction then there’s plenty to delight early on, but it’s all wallpaper. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 21, 2014
It has an energy all its own, and Gondry’s voice is always welcome, and essential. Mood Indigo is somehow both unmissable and whisper-thin. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 17, 2014
There’s a lot of heart in his creativity. But this particular effort, delightful as it often is, lacks some essential soul. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyKeith StaskiewiczJul 16, 2014
A movie so stuffed with eccentricity, it rips at least a couple of seams. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerJul 24, 2014
The film ends up feeling more like a very long music video. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 17, 2014
There's so much of so many flavors of cleverness — a surfeit of surfeits — that sensory overload causes aesthetic suffocation. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 16, 2014
No amount of imaginative trickery can fill the void of feeling at the movie’s center. Whimsy for whimsy’s sake is just too much to take. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 16, 2014
It’s well-cast, but Tautou and Duris don’t set off the sparks and create the longing that would give this tragic romance some heft. Everybody else takes a back seat to the inspired visuals. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoJul 13, 2014
Michel Gondry bungles his adaptation of the Boris Vian novel by indulging in homespun craftwork at the expense of plot and character detail. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerJul 9, 2013
An exhausting pièce d’indulgence from the veteran video/feature director, who can never quite shape all the bric-a-brac, not to mention an all-star Gallic cast, into a workable whole. Read full review
50
VarietyBoyd van HoeijJul 9, 2013
The film frequently privileges art direction over emotion, and a constant sense of wonder based on visuals alone proves impossible to sustain over the lengthy 130-minute runtime. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 17, 2014
More begets more and then too much in Mood Indigo. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJul 15, 2014
The results make your head spin more than they make your spirits soar. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 7, 2014
If ever a movie were lost in translation, it’s Mood Indigo, the latest from the scattershot genius Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Science of Sleep”). With his penchant for sad-sack dreamers and gonzo visual gags, Gondry can make a director like Wes Anderson look like a prig, and “Mood” allows him freer access to his fancy than usual. Read full review
38
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeJul 16, 2014
Full of appealing actors mugging like crazy, it’s got amusing moments, but the overstuffed visuals suffocate real emotion. Read full review
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