60
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlFrom moment to moment, this Last Five Years is a robust entertainment, often stirring, sad, and funny.
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickLet us now praise Anna Kendrick, who is positively great in the small-scale The Last Five Years — so utterly wonderful that this adaptation of an off-Broadway musical deserves better than a token theatrical release to support its distribution via video-on-demand.
- 75The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerThe A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFor Kendrick in particular, it’s a sign that she could sing her way through something bigger.
- 70VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeBeyond scrappy, The Last 5 Years lacks a unifying aesthetic, as if this were merely the run-through, grabbed on the fly without lights, costumes or location permits. This approach does improve upon the stage show in one key respect, however, allowing us to see all those crooned-over emotions writ large on the faces of its two terrific lead performers.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreNo, it’s not deep. But the film, a sung-through (virtually no dialogue) musical by Jason Robert Brown, is sweet and sunny and occasionally funny.
- 60The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasIf there’s any thought to the screen musical being revived as more than a Broadway brand extension, Kendrick makes the emphatic case that she’s the star it should be built around.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanIn a small theater, it’s easy to feel like you’re a part of the romance unfolding before you. But in the grander scheme of an impersonal cineplex, it’s an uphill climb.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe problem is that the romance as depicted is just not interesting enough to sustain realistic treatment. It's sweet but a tad dull. The two characters lack dimension, and their stereotypical situations seem entirely generic.
- 50The PlaylistKevin JagernauthThe PlaylistKevin JagernauthThough LaGravenese's faithfulness to the songbook is perhaps admirable, the results don't quite work cinematically.
- 50Slant MagazineSlant MagazineThe film mostly skirts any connection to musical theater as though it were faintly embarrassed.