61
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyMr. Schrader is a director of great rigor and discipline. The movie is fascinated by the baroque behavior it observes, but without imitating it.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversDirector Paul Schrader has fashioned a film of surpassing creepiness. It's pretentious, too, and sometimes maddeningly dull. But the erotically unsettling atmosphere – exquisitely rendered by cinematographer Dante Spinotti – soon seeps in.
- 70Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonAt its best, it's about madness disguised as utter rationalism, utter dispassion, noblesse oblige. As such, in odd moments, it chills through to the bone and beyond.
- 70Time OutTime OutHarold Pinter's script sometimes suffers from awkward, even implausible dialogue; but careful pacing and casting make for a film that, while directed with cool discretion, is sensual and shocking in its casual evocation of erotic violence, emotional manipulation and moral torpor.
- 70Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonWhatever this movie's about, it's tailor-made for its audience. It's for those who fantasize about steamy afternoons in European hotel rooms. For those who thrive on meaningful (or meaningless) lulls between isolated events. For those who love the weighty (or lightweight) dialogue of screenwriter Harold Pinter.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie is ultimately not quite successful; when it was over I felt there was some additional payoff or explanation still due. Perhaps the arbitrary, unfinished nature of the story is part of its purpose. But I felt that characters this interesting should not be allowed to remain complete ciphers. Still, in individual moments, The Comfort of Strangers has an eerie, atmospheric charm.
- 60EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanSlow and foreboding with a memorably creepy Christopher Walken. If you're looking for fun, this ain't it.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineOverall, The Comfort of Strangers seems tremendously overwrought for no good reason.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe Comfort of Strangers is luridly silly, yet it isn’t quite dull. Walken takes his usual glassy-eyed menace to new levels of high-camp refinement — he manages to be over the top and minimal at the same time — and the film has an extravagantly lush atmosphere, due in large part to the music of Twin Peaks‘ Angelo Badalamenti.