49
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirSo truly and exceptionally fine, a spiny and dispassionate little masterpiece of a marriage movie.
- 75TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghStrong performances and sharp dialogue distinguish Jeff Lipsky's melancholy second feature, which charts the two-year course of a "perfect" relationship whose flaws are evident from the outset.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenMr. Lipsky’s screenplay, a messy collection of fragments arranged chronologically, adds up to one of the most intimate screen portraits of a relationship ever attempted.
- 50Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallChicago ReaderAndrea GronvallThe script is overwritten and has too many themes--suicide, abuse, anti-Semitism--to support, but Nicholson does remarkable work in an unsympathetic role, helped by Lipsky's fine control of his characters.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterJames GreenbergThe Hollywood ReporterJames GreenbergWhat starts out seeming like a poor man's Woody Allen morphs into something closer to an American version of "Scenes From a Marriage."
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyVisually, the film is without flair or ambition, conveying no sense of atmosphere or mood. But the performances put it over.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceAt a full two hours, Lipsky's talky movie is more compelling in its second half, when the spouses finally get around to being themselves.
- 38New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickFor much of Flannel Pajamas I wondered if the couple's big problem was that Stuart was secretly gay. Nothing so interesting - he's just a narcissistic control freak and she's off-puttingly needy.
- 25The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonOpaque acting, excruciating dialogue, and flat, affectless direction certainly don't help, but even in brilliant hands, Flannel Pajamas would still be a movie about two horrible, unsympathetic people doing dreadful things to each other, and learning nothing in the process. Why should anyone else have to endure it too?
- 20Film ThreatFilm ThreatThe thing is, these chatty, pedantic, annoying characters are simply not interesting enough to follow for five minutes, let alone over two hours.