Problemista
A24 | Release Date: March 1, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Wall Street JournalZachary BarnesFeb 29, 2024
Problemista is a brilliant comedy of the surreal and the absurd, and it finds no shortage of either in the bureaucratic processes of immigration. Read full review
91
The PlaylistMatthew MonagleMar 17, 2023
Torres peels back layers of the immigrant story in something packaged as entertainment. It may appear whimsical, but you don’t need to dig too deep beneath the surface to find universal emotions underneath. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeMar 17, 2023
Torres has created a weird and special little film, one that reflects his particular tastes and curiosities. Read full review
88
The Associated PressMark KennedyFeb 27, 2024
Problemista is not like a Wes Anderson-type hyper-whimsy, but more like the surreal bursting joy of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” It even breaks space and time like the latter. It is absolutely captivating. Read full review
85
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonMar 17, 2023
This fearless, authentic debut showcases immense command of a unique and inventive form of humor, while touching on a very real issue with heart and candor. Read full review
83
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsMar 21, 2023
The beauty is that Torres never forces these messages down your throat. The movie is too looney, too specific to be so obvious. Read full review
83
IndieWireRafael MotamayorMar 17, 2023
Problemista is not just funny, however, it is also rather earnest and compassionate towards its characters. Read full review
82
The AtlanticShirley LiMar 15, 2024
Within Problemista is a heartfelt core conveying something profoundly human. It’s a marvelous mixture of surrealism and social satire that depicts the American dream as a nightmare of bureaucracy and phone calls to customer service. There’s nothing more absurd, the film argues, than the mundane. Read full review
80
Little White LiesLex BriscusoJul 10, 2024
The performances sell everything unique and special about Torres’ approach to this story, and they bring his characters, who already feel so vibrant through their words, alive. Read full review
80
IGNAlyssa MoraMar 29, 2024
Problemista is a deeply considered, fantastical tromp through a wonderland of the mundane. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicAmanda LubertoMar 14, 2024
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to find a creative partner who sees the world the way you do, the connection between Elizabeth and Alejandro will hit you joyfully and achingly. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 1, 2024
As a dig at generational dissatisfaction and/or a lament about the migrant’s blues, the film is good enough. As a portrait of a diva on the verge of a meltdown that could take out a metropolis, it’s a next-level nightmare. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJoshua RothkopfMar 1, 2024
If I call the movie a love story, don’t laugh. Torres has made it with love in his heart. Read full review
80
Screen RantAlex HarrisonMar 1, 2024
Problemista invokes the simplicity of myth without ever letting its characters become simplistic. Read full review
80
ColliderRoss BonaimeMar 1, 2024
Torres' humor might be too niche for some, but Problemista shows that it can be used to tell a compelling and heartfelt story for the masses. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfMar 25, 2024
Torres mixes in everything that makes his specific brand of comedy unique into Problemista: Alejandro's toy pitches are obscurely sassy, his imaginative use of CGI and costuming is fantastical, and his dry delivery is the perfect juxtaposition to the film's outlandish absurdity. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiz BraunMar 21, 2024
It doesn’t sound much like it, but Problemista is a comedy and a savage send-up of much of what America holds dear. Torres’ absurdist humour underpins the storytelling. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMatt SchimkowitzFeb 29, 2024
There’s no doubt that should Torres continue, Problemista will eventually look like a scrappy first album filled with promising primordial quirks. The film’s issues do not impede it from being a fleet-footed comedy filled with laugh-out-loud jokes. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloFeb 29, 2024
Knowing Julio Torres’ previous work is the key to understanding his feature debut “Problemista,” which combines his love of design, the inner lives of toys, surrealism, and whimsy into a race against the clock, the immigration system, and the art scene in New York City. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonMar 1, 2024
Problemista, which Torres wrote, directed and stars in, reveals a new willingness to tell a relatable story with a riveting sketch of an honest-to-goodness person. Read full review
70
SlashfilmErin BradyMar 17, 2023
Problemista won't be for everyone, but it doesn't want to be. It simply exists as its own magical thing, and for an auteur like Torres, that is the best possible result. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 14, 2024
Problemista becomes the Great Tilda’s grandest playground, a chance to wear the wacky fashions, keep her hair at its unruliest and let her furious freak flag fly in the best “I want to speak to the manager” send-up ever. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 13, 2024
The story is a familiar one — a young immigrant fetches up in New York to seek his fortune, only to be buffeted by a bumptious city and cut to the quick by its competitive edge — but Torres reshapes it into something simultaneously more fantastical and far more real. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 6, 2024
There’s no denying that Torres (a former writer on “Saturday Night Live” and the co-creator of the HBO series “Los Espookys”) is a unique talent; it’s just that his first feature film, while featuring some clever ideas, has a repetitive nature that grows more irksome as we go along, and the humor dissipates into heavy-handed social commentary. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreMar 13, 2024
The best parts of Problemista, which is a charming film without ever becoming more than semi-successful, bend the world through his perspective with the help of some Michel Gondry–esque DIY Surrealism. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonFeb 26, 2024
The predominant mode of Problemista is playful, its comic sensibility curious and askew – enough to make the film, a promising if uneven debut, a delight throughout. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJul 11, 2024
Swinton is massively overblown and Torres too wispy and diffident to balance things out. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 3, 2024
An explosion of pass-agg hipster quirkiness is what’s offered here, an everything-everywhere-all-at-onceuniverse of cutesy vulnerability and pseudo-childlike ersatz charm. Read full review
40
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 17, 2023
For all his funny ideas, it doesn’t feel like Torres has a consistent world view, and the movie is poorly organized and unwieldy as a consequence. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezFeb 26, 2024
The film doesn’t lock on a target long enough for it to work up a head of steam as satire about the art world and how it thrives on nepotism, let alone one about the frustrations of the immigration process. Read full review
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