76
Metascore
24 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanTrees Lounge is so deft, funny, and light-handed it may not be until the film’s shattering final image that you realize you’ve been watching one of the most lived-in portraits of an alcoholic ever made.
- 90The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenTrees Lounge is not much more than a jumble of beautifully acted sketches that introduce the characters in Tommy's world.
- 90The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsUbiquitous screen presence Steve Buscemi makes an impressive writing/directing debut in this depiction of small-town alcoholism.
- 90Time OutTime OutBuscemi's semi- autobiographical first feature as writer/director is a beautifully low-key, disarmingly perceptive blue-collar character-study, reminiscent of vintage Cassavetes in its sociological and emotional authenticity.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIf anybody ever wrote a Field Guide to Alcoholics, with descriptions of their appearance, sexual behavior and habitats, there would be a full-color portrait on the cover of Tommy, the hero of Trees Lounge.
- 80VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyThe film’s virtues are modest, but Buscemi has come out on top by taking on people and a place he clearly knows inside out.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleBuscemi eschews the conventional and ends "Trees Lounge" on a stranger, more tantalizing note.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineWhere Cassavetes often uncovered the grotesquerie underlying such desperate lives -- usually after one round too many -- Buscemi's vison is rooted in compassion and a quirky humor that's entirely his own.
- While it paints a convincing vision of lives ruled and ruined by the bottle, none of this makes for compelling viewing. Certainly not an hour-and-a-half of it.
- 40EmpireAdam SmithEmpireAdam SmithThere are effective moments, a dime clutching tot watching an ice cream van plough gently into a garden wall after its driver has a heart attack, gives a stylish laugh, but at the end of the day perhaps a trip to the bar will be more fun.