The Last Five Years
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: February 13, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 13, 2015
The camera moves with heightened sensitivity, as if on currents of emotion, and Kendrick is infinitely winning. She’s that rare thing, a movie star with a trained soprano. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloFeb 13, 2015
Kendrick qualifies as the movie's secret weapon — actually not so secret now that she's charmed audiences in both Into the Woods and Pitch Perfect. She's so appealing here, in fact, that audience sympathies are likely to be less-than-evenly split between the two leads. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlFeb 10, 2015
From moment to moment, this Last Five Years is a robust entertainment, often stirring, sad, and funny. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 19, 2015
A pretty good movie expansion of a pretty good stage musical; what bumps it up into contention and makes it of interest beyond devotees of musical theater — you know who you are — is Kendrick. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryFeb 19, 2015
It’s more than great dancing and tragic strings that elevate The Last Five Years to a very funny, deeply affecting portrait of love lost and found. Kendrick and Jordan are both Broadway performers with powerful voices. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 19, 2015
A small, shrewd movie about large, messy emotions and regrets. It is a grown-up work about people who grow up the hard way, leaving one heart in disrepair and the other in reckless forward motion. It's a sad piece, but not maudlin. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFeb 11, 2015
For Kendrick in particular, it’s a sign that she could sing her way through something bigger. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 11, 2015
Let us now praise Anna Kendrick, who is positively great in the small-scale The Last Five Years — so utterly wonderful that this adaptation of an off-Broadway musical deserves better than a token theatrical release to support its distribution via video-on-demand. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen HoldenFeb 12, 2015
In Mr. Jordan’s portrayal of Jamie, this handsome talented musical theater performer (“Newsies”) goes for the jugular in taking down his character and making him insufferable. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 13, 2014
Beyond scrappy, The Last 5 Years lacks a unifying aesthetic, as if this were merely the run-through, grabbed on the fly without lights, costumes or location permits. This approach does improve upon the stage show in one key respect, however, allowing us to see all those crooned-over emotions writ large on the faces of its two terrific lead performers. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenFeb 18, 2015
The story is really rather prosaic and character details are fairly nonexistent. Yet LaGravenese should be commended for his vision and tenacity, which has helped to create a piece that should be catnip to fans of the modern musical theatre – and in these post-Glee days, who isn’t? Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaFeb 13, 2015
As a date-night viewing option for this weekend, this nearly all-sung autopsy of a failed marriage would pretty much qualify as a Valentine’s Day massacre. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 11, 2015
It's easy to overlook the failings in The Last Five Years. Let it in and it knocks you back on your heels. Just like love. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 11, 2015
No, it’s not deep. But the film, a sung-through (virtually no dialogue) musical by Jason Robert Brown, is sweet and sunny and occasionally funny. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid HughesApr 13, 2015
A musical with almost 100% sung verse is not for everyone but Kendrick is as bewitching as ever. Read full review
60
CineVueJulia AlexanderFeb 18, 2015
Pacing issues and clichéd dialogue between Jamie and Cathy, however, can make proceedings tedious at points. Fortunately, the spectacular acting from both Kendrick and Jordan more than make up for it. Their on screen chemistry is tepid and duets feel forced, but when each is on their own and belting out their various parts, there's a definite pull to each. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 11, 2015
In a small theater, it’s easy to feel like you’re a part of the romance unfolding before you. But in the grander scheme of an impersonal cineplex, it’s an uphill climb. Read full review
60
The DissolveScott TobiasFeb 10, 2015
If there’s any thought to the screen musical being revived as more than a Broadway brand extension, Kendrick makes the emphatic case that she’s the star it should be built around. Read full review
58
IndieWireRyan LattanzioFeb 19, 2015
Can Anna Kendrick save the movie musical with The Last Five Years? The answer is no — and yes. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 19, 2015
While both have Broadway-level pipes, neither has a particularly distinctive, knock-it-out-of-the park voice. It doesn’t help that the songs, while solid, become repetitive in melody. And there’s not a home run in the bunch. I walked out humming … nothing from this movie. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 12, 2015
This bare-bones adaptation is more of a sop to the musical’s fans than a fully imagined movie musical. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyFeb 12, 2015
The Last Five Years is not unpleasant to watch — the leads are delightful — but as a movie experience, it's not especially satisfying either. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMatt BrennanFeb 6, 2015
The film mostly skirts any connection to musical theater as though it were faintly embarrassed. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 13, 2014
The problem is that the romance as depicted is just not interesting enough to sustain realistic treatment. It's sweet but a tad dull. The two characters lack dimension, and their stereotypical situations seem entirely generic. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 13, 2014
Though LaGravenese's faithfulness to the songbook is perhaps admirable, the results don't quite work cinematically. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 10, 2015
While The Last Five Years isn't a bad movie, neither does it fall into the "must-see" category. Read full review
30
TheWrapInkoo KangFeb 16, 2015
Without that emotional groundwork to establish the contours of Cathy and Jamie’s relationship, “The Last Five Years” is largely a numbing experience. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianMarc MohanFeb 20, 2015
The film's structure is a reminder that being Pinteresque isn't the same as being written by Harold Pinter, and its lyrics prove that there's a big difference between something Sondheim-esque and the real deal. Read full review
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