Babylon, featuring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt in the lead roles, has so far received mostly positive reviews. Of course, a large number of critics have also panned the Damien Chazelle’s epic period comedy-drama film.
On the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film reportedly holds a score of 64 per cent. The critical consensus reads, “Babylon’s overwhelming muchness is exhausting, but much like the industry it honors, its well-acted, well-crafted glitz and glamour can often be an effective distraction.”
South China Morning Post’s James Marsh wrote, “Recreating the unbridled hedonism of early Hollywood in a heady cocktail of sex, drugs, and iconic roles, Damien Chazelle’s indulgent three-hour epic Babylon is both a love letter to and cautionary tale of the excesses of cinema’s golden age.”
BBC’s Caryn James wrote, “At its best, Chazelle’s film is a cinematic marvel, evidence enough that movies are magical, as it sweeps us into the beautiful, terrible world we recognise as Hollywood even now.”
AV Club’s Tomris Laffly wrote, “Shimmering, mournful, and riotous, Babylon is one of the year’s best movies, thanks in part to a star-making performance by Diego Calva.”
Screencrush’s Matt Singer was less impressed. “Chazelle is so enamored with his simulacrum of this forgotten world that he loses sight of the people in it,” he wrote.
San Antonio Current’s Kiko Martinez wrote, “Much like the debauched parties in the film, [Damien] Chazelle’s script is utterly chaotic and comes across like a tired imitation of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 masterpiece Boogie Nights.”
Babylon releases on December 23 in the US.
