Opening Night
Faces Distribution | Release Date: December 25, 1977 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New YorkerRichard Brody
Cassavetes’s most cleverly constructed film is also a definitive lesson in the death-defying, all-consuming art of acting, proof of a madness beyond the Method. Read full review
88
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Juggling onstage and offstage action, Cassavetes makes this a fascinating look at some of the internal mechanisms and conflicts that create theatrical fiction, and his wonderful cast never lets him down. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Rowlands takes the movie by the throat in the dramatic, onstage sequences, just as Brando would have done, yet she’s equally compelling in the film’s smaller moments. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChris Cabin
Opening Night hits closest to home in its long, haunting, tension-fueled riffs between Cassavetes and Rowlands, playing lovers on stage and former lovers off stage. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
For fans of Cassavetes, Opening night is a must see. As per usual it features a superb cast. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
Woody Allen said that he could watch a Bergman movie and feel himself gripped as if by a thriller; that's how I felt watching this restored version of John Cassavetes's 1977 picture Opening Night. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
At once a lament to the ravages of age and an examination of those tiny foibles which separate reality from dramatic artifice, it’s a baffling and intricate film which, although light on conventional pleasures, still manages to provoke and beguile. Read full review
80
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)
Gena Rowlands gives one of her bravest, most startling performances here, waging guerilla combat with the demands of a play she can’t abide, wrestling with demons so real they kick her in the teeth. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Gena Rowlands plays the role at perfect pitch: She is able to suggest, even in the midst of seemingly ordinary moments, the controlled panic of a person who needs a drink, right here, right now. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStaff (Not Credited)
Opening Night is a reminder of what has made Mr. Cassavetes's films so appealing, and of what can make them so maddening, too. For all its length -- nearly two and three-quarter hours -- it's a relatively thin example of the director's work, but a mischievous and inviting one, too. Read full review
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