52
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloRogerEbert.comMonica CastilloFirst Date feels like a throwback caper to something you'd find on cable, funny yet full of action with a generous helping of a timeless romance for good measure. It’s the kind of movie you come across and have to see how it ends.
- 70The New York TimesAmy NicholsonThe New York TimesAmy NicholsonWhat follows is a barrage of gunfire, wah-wah guitars and a surprising amount of novelty and heart for a film that can feel as if it’s a road trip through the directors’ inspirations.
- 60SlashfilmBen PearsonSlashfilmBen PearsonThere’s a beating heart at the center of First Date, but unfortunately, the movie is less interested in exploring that central relationship and more amused with its zany cast of idiotic supporting characters. Good pacing can only get you so far.
- 60Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganPaste MagazineNatalia KeoganDespite clearly aiming to craft an intentional aesthetic, writer/director duo Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp’s film is inundated with tributes to irreverent indie crime film staples without bothering to carve out a unique voice of its own.
- 50The PlaylistRobert DanielsThe PlaylistRobert DanielsThe entire ensemble rolls with the fast punches. And Crosby and Knapp show real comedic potential. But First Date takes too many big bites without the ability to digest any of its gummy sweets. Crosby and Knapp’s First Date, an at-times hilarious California pleasure trip, dissolves under the weight of its self-evident ambition.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussSan Francisco ChronicleBob StraussFirst Date is a very ambitious independent film with a charming, casual attitude.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeWhile the two young thesps acquit themselves nicely, much around them conspires to prevent their debut from being a memorable one.
- 38Slant MagazineMark HansonSlant MagazineMark HansonThe shadow of Risky Business looms large, and distractingly, over Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp’s film.
- 30VarietyTomris LafflyVarietyTomris LafflyMore concerned with paying homage to ’90s-era Quentin Tarantino than telling a contemporary coming-of-age tale with believable stakes, co-helmers Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp’s debut feature First Date saddles a young couple not with a romantic night out, but with a haphazard all-nighter crime-comedy that’s mostly unfunny and free of convincing suspense.