The Brown Bunny
Wellspring Media | Release Date: August 27, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
6
Negative:
9

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
An honorable and often enticing piece of personal filmmaking. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Gets its teeth in you and shakes. Once it’s over, you find yourself replaying it on an endless loop in your head. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's hard to deny that Gallo has caught the freedom and melancholy, the intoxicating aimlessness, the lonely twilight beauty of a solo road trip in a way that no previous filmmaker quite has. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Make no mistake: The Cannes version was a bad film, but now Gallo's editing has set free the good film inside. The Brown Bunny is still not a complete success -- it is odd and off-putting when it doesn't want to be -- but as a study of loneliness and need, it evokes a tender sadness. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The Brown Bunny is certainly about how vain Gallo is. Yet rarely has narcissism produced such a handsome work of cinema. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleNeva Chonin
An idiosyncratic document of sexual obsession and guilt, it alienates as easily as it mesmerizes. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
An astonishing improvement on the original version. With 27 minutes excised, pic emerges from its mind-numbing undergrowth as a memorable -- if still highly specialized -- exercise in personal, '70s-style American filmmaking, with a cohesive feel and rhythm that marks Gallo as a distinctive indie talent. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
It's genuinely elemental, embarrassingly sincere. You can't accuse Gallo of pandering to anyone but himself. Not just a one-man band, he is his own entourage -- and likely to remain so. And that anguished solipsism seems to be, at least in part, the movie's subject. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
If the independent film world were littered with alleged disasters like The Brown Bunny, the scene would be far richer for it. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
In brief, The Brown Bunny, however antagonistic and borderline tedious, is an art work of sorts, and Gallo himself, though an egomaniac of staggering solemnity-a priest of art longing for a cult-is not a fake. Read full review
70
SalonCharles Taylor
In "Buffalo 66," Gallo was an unfunny prankster. In The Brown Bunny, wearing his heart on his sleeve, he's a real filmmaker. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Yes, the film jumps up and down on a high wire over the chasm separating Pretension and Art. But that's also a form of courage. Read full review
63
New York PostV.A. Musetto
As evident from The Brown Bunny and his directing debut, "Buffalo 66," Gallo is talented, although in an unconventional way. Call him an angry young man with a future. Read full review
63
PremiereAaron Hillis
The film stubbornly refuses to fill empty space with dialogue or adhere to any structure other than its own downbeat atmosphere, forcing viewers to be intensely patient or squirm. It's the best film I’ve seen in a while that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Quite possibly the biggest ego trip ever to play Cannes, or anywhere else, at any time. Read full review
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