The Lovers
| Release Date: May 5, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 4, 2017
Its emotional reserves are deeper and more capacious, its sense of mystery more profound, than in just about any American movie of any scale I’ve seen in recent memory. Read full review
91
The PlaylistKimber MyersMay 1, 2017
The characters in The Lovers and the problems they face and struggle with feel entirely authentic, as does the magnetic chemistry between the leads. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 4, 2017
Smart, unpredictable performances by Debra Winger and Tracy Letts and an uncommonly crucial score by Mandy Hoffman ensure that the picture's odd nature won't be misconstrued as indecisiveness. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMay 18, 2017
The Lovers is the rare film that acknowledges that romance isn’t limited to people in their 20s and 30s. It’s also a smart, quirky comedy that moviegoers of any age should find eminently appealing. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 11, 2017
The Lovers gets a tad too theatrical in the last act, and the deeply cynical resolution might not sit well with everyone. (I thought it was just about perfect.) Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 5, 2017
The wisdom of this meticulously crafted film is in its genuine irony, which amplifies steadily throughout until culminating in a moment of real heartbreak that, ironically enough, only sets the stage for a cycle of deceit to begin again. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 5, 2017
A meandering but altogether mesmerizing film from writer-director Azazel Jacobs that finds buoyant comedy and touching gravity in the ashes of a relationship. Read full review
85
TheWrapDan CallahanApr 28, 2017
This film is a real pleasure and surprise because it sees old emotions as things that can be replenished and renewed if you are open and not too rigid about the boundaries of your relationships with others. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnApr 28, 2017
The movie deals less with awkwardness of this comedic scenario than the emotions it creates for its central duo, and the psychological struggle when words can only go so far. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 8, 2017
A wry, openhearted, vaguely outré romantic comedy, albeit a bittersweet one. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 8, 2017
Writer-director Azazel Jacobs has made a very smart movie about a very dumb idea. Read full review
80
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonMay 3, 2017
Jacobs lets casually observed details and offhand humor advance the story. There are no grand pronouncements in The Lovers, which smartly communicates its ideas about relationships during its long stretches of silence. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeApr 28, 2017
Rather like its central relationship, the film is messy and flawed yet painfully familiar. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanApr 28, 2017
The Lovers is a comedy of Middle American doldrums that leaves you rooting for its characters instead of smirking at them. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMay 17, 2017
Winger is as good here as she’s ever been, and Letts, an actor whose face you know but whose name you can never quite remember, is terrific, communicating his lust for Lucy with dry aplomb. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMay 18, 2017
Letts has some fine moments, but it’s Winger who really brings the color to this movie, creating a woman filled with disappointment and passion and wit, taking a small-scale comedy of manners to a darker, richer place. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartMay 11, 2017
It’s all a delightful mess, executed with a deft touch by Jacobs. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 11, 2017
Flustered, flirty and filled to the brim with compassion, The Lovers is charming, even when it’s proving how hollow charm can be. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 10, 2017
In a sense, Jacobs has made a movie about sex that’s not about sex at all. We often hear about “sexual sublimation,” but The Lovers depicts the reverse, which is probably more common, in which sexual adventure becomes the most available substitute for cherished lost dreams. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 10, 2017
A lot of the humor, sage as it is, comes from the players, Winger and Letts in particular. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 9, 2017
The Lovers is a compact tale, a chamber music melodrama underscored by lavish, romantic strings and a Prokofiev waltz. It never quite escapes the stage-bound feeling. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMay 3, 2017
Azazel Jacobs’ The Lovers is set in the sort of unremarkable, average, suburban America that is rarely depicted in American movies in anything but a negative light, usually as a place where dreams go to die. So one of the unexpected virtues of this small, thoughtful film is how it resists treating these surroundings as soul-crushing or as a symbol of the failure of middle-class mores. Read full review
70
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 24, 2017
An undeniable charm emerges in writer-director Azazel Jacobs' film. And so, rather than being anywhere near as smothering as it sounds, it all springs appealingly to life. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 11, 2017
Jacobs, while making a fairly funny movie, does not settle for easy answers or melodrama. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyApr 28, 2017
The Lovers is shrewd, even if it’s not altogether satisfying. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerMay 25, 2017
Director Azazel Jacobs has written (with Winger in mind) an unapologetically adult movie, in which it’s assumed that people in their 50s are as sexual and screwed up as people in their 20s and it’s a given that yearning never ends. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshMay 11, 2017
The Lovers is not about them as individual performers; it's about these actors working in tandem with each other, the script, the director and the other actors. The film works as a whole, not a sum of its parts. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayApr 26, 2017
Azazel Jacobs’s film takes some shrewd steps to update the comedy of remarriage for the age of the smartphone. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 5, 2017
Director Azazel Jacobs knows what he has in Winger, but her intensity is too much for this goofy grab bag of a movie. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RaupApr 28, 2017
Featuring superb performances from Tracy Letts and Debra Winger, writer-director Azazel Jacobs has assembled an impeccable ensemble, but his script doesn’t quite have the dramatic acumen to make his Terri follow-up much more than an amusing farce. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMay 4, 2017
Falling with a thud between two stools, it has neither the zip nor the zaniness of farce nor the airy vivacity of the best romantic comedies. Read full review
More From This Movie

76 Critic Reviews

6.2 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL