Quartet
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: December 28, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchSarah Bryan MillerJan 25, 2013
They have the perfect supporting cast, made up of a group of exceptional real-life musicians: retired members of orchestras and opera companies, and a pianist bristling with the suppressed impatience of the longtime accompanist. (To see who they are, stick around for the credits.) Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedJan 8, 2013
The result is a movie of enormous intelligence. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 24, 2013
Hoffman wisely gives his actors plenty of room to maneuver, and that they do. It's surprisingly fun to watch them play against each other. It's not as if you're going to learn anything new from Quartet. It's too straightforward for that. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy seeing old pros at work. And you won't be exhausted by the end of it. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirJan 11, 2013
This is a lovely film directed with delicacy and taste, profoundly alive to the rhythms of its actors and characters, which gives its superlative British cast of stage and screen legends the time and space they deserve. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJan 30, 2013
It's a celebration of great old actors set in a world of once-great singers, and Hoffman's affection for them and the material shows in every frame. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJan 24, 2013
Smoothly navigating the perilous line between insufferably twee and heartbreakingly grim, Quartet is a subtle, sure-footed delight. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJan 24, 2013
Quartet is endearing, sometimes even irresistible. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 24, 2013
Quartet is buoyed by the Scottish charm of Billy Connolly, as a lovable flirt and extrovert - he is a delight and also a locus of truth in every scene he's in. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJan 24, 2013
Despite all this hokum, Quartet is amusing and heartwarming. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 24, 2013
And that, in the end, is what Quartet is about: determined engagement, embracing music and theater and the arts, and embracing the friends and loved ones you have around you. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 24, 2013
Quartet is truly an actor's film. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJan 24, 2013
Hoffman and Harwood aren't afraid to show us old people who are rude, demanding, unreasonable and foolish, though the final overall mood remains blissful. Hoffman might have more to say as a director, if anyone in Hollywood cares to find out. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 11, 2013
What gives the movie its poignancy – what turns it into something more than a polite entertainment – is Smith's role. Or, to be more exact, her performance, in tandem with Courtenay's. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJan 10, 2013
The line between honey and syrup is a fine one, I'll grant you, but "Best Exotic Marigold" was on the wrong side of it. Quartet carries a noble glow, as serene and beautiful as sunset. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 10, 2013
The actors are world-class charmers, and the magnificent Dame Maggie is the diva divine. Her wit still stings, as it does on "Downton Abbey." Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 10, 2013
There's little in the basic narrative to grasp and hold the viewer's attention, but the way the lines are delivered and the charisma of the performers lend charm and substance to the overall viewing experience. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJan 9, 2013
Dustin Hoffman, a 75-year-old first-time feature director better known as a great old acting pro, conducts at a pleasant tempo. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 10, 2013
It's a privilege to watch peerless actors at the peak of their powers. Read full review
70
NPRElla TaylorDec 7, 2012
Personally, I'd show up for Maggie Smith's top-drawer basilisk stare if she were guesting on "Sesame Street." Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 6, 2012
Quartet is very much a performance piece, which plays to Hoffman's strength - as an actor he knows when to allow this excellent ensemble breathing room and when to tighten the belt. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackJan 24, 2013
Charming, funny, and sentimental, the film is exactly what you expect it to be, but very satisfying in achieving that goal. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 24, 2013
Quartet is a sweet-tempered, rather fuddly drama about retired opera singers, and compared to a slick crowd-pleaser like "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," with whom it shares a star and a sentimentalized view of old age, it's a mess. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 24, 2013
The material settles for amiably familiar observations about the difficulties of growing old and the glories of being surrounded by beautiful music. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 24, 2013
This movie will no doubt be pitched to the same audiences that loved "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel." It even brings Maggie Smith along. But it lacks that film's life, intelligence and spirit. It has a good heart. I'll give it that. Maybe what it needs is more exotic marigolds. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJan 17, 2013
Essentially Masterpiece Theatre comfort food, a chance to watch fine actors act without too many complications. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJan 10, 2013
Music lovers will appreciate both the score and the nostalgic end credits, which revisit the early years of the aged supporting cast (many of whom were actual musicians). Read full review
60
EmpireAnna SmithDec 31, 2012
A frothy and often charming directorial effort from Hoffman, his first in a Hollywood career that's spanned five decades, that will keep Downton fans happy. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithDec 11, 2012
As cozy as a mug of Horlicks inside an electric blanket, Hoffman's film couldn't offend if it tried. Age, however, has yet to wither its veterans' undimmed star appeal. Read full review
60
The Guardian Catherine ShoardDec 4, 2012
Hoffman has delivered a love letter to the elderly thesps of his adoptive country. We can forgive him its falsehoods. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 10, 2013
A sincere but sloppy piece of work. Mr. Hoffman dotes on his cast of first-rate British actors of a certain age - and invites us to savor their energy and professionalism. This is not difficult, though the efforts of these fine actors might have yielded greater delight if they had been given more to do. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasJan 9, 2013
Quartet falls into the common actor-turned-director trap of valuing the performances of fellow actors over all other aesthetic concerns. Read full review
50
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonDec 31, 2012
Quartet is a hard film to dislike entirely, thanks principally to the charms of its cast. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonDec 11, 2012
Sentimental and pandering. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 1, 2013
More seriously -- and substantively -- "A Late Quartet" was a quiet but thoughtful meditation on the power, and the necessary pain, of human connections. By comparison, Quartet is a flimsy bit of cinematic puffery that takes every obvious path on its way to its even more obvious "seize-the-day" message. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichJan 9, 2013
The curtain can't come down fast enough. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundDec 3, 2012
For a movie that aims to make four artists' last spotlit hurrah a revel-worthy moment, Quartet shouldn't urge the viewer to welcome the closing of the curtain. Read full review
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