The American Astronaut
Artistic License | Release Date: September 5, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Chicago ReaderJack Helbig
Mott Hupfel II's noirish photography, Pete Beaudreau's smooth editing, and McAbee's wry script are all wonderful, and Dawn Weisberg's costumes are especially killing. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
The result is a sui generis, love-it-or-hate-it exercise in homegrown American surrealism. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRon Wells
This musical epic is unlike anything I (or anyone I know) have ever laid eyes on. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece
The characters may be one-dimensional ciphers with nothing much to say, but boy, do they not say it with style. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
A micro-budget black-and-white musical set in outer space, The American Astronaut is obviously not for all tastes -- but it's quite unlike anything else out there at the moment. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJim Sullivan
Doesn't really have a climax that works, making you wonder whether all the nutso plot machinations were worth following. Maybe, maybe not. But there were a number of skewed bits that popped out and put a chuckle into this journey. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Rarely funny and straining to reach feature length, The American Astronaut achieves sweetness via its straight-faced take on utter gobbledygook. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Much of Astronaut comes off as tedious and self-amused, but the musical vignettes are fun. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Soars as much as it crashes. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Quickly becomes an endurance test: like watching an old Carol Burnett skit that's not working, or a high school play that's trying to be bad. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis Harvey
Unfortunately that blast-off heralds an orbit to nowhere, with initial delight fading as pic runs out of ideas all too soon, never building a sense of momentum or narrative thrust. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The best part of this proudly absurd experience is the music. Read full review
30
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
The fleeting moments of dry wit are too sparse to hold the movie together, so instead McAbee takes the kitchen-sink approach, hitting us with whatever he's got. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesJohn Anderson
Has been described as a "midnight-style musical." And perhaps it should be seen that way, with a crowd of kindred knuckleheads and some moshing in the aisles. Read full review
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