45
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70Film ThreatFilm ThreatKevin Bacon's witty and effective, yet squirm-inducing, directorial debut.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterGood performances and a keen eye for period detail can't disguise the fact that not much is happening here story-wise.
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyA classic case of "Better if you didn't read the book" cinema, Loverboy emerges an OK character study of an abnormally possessive mother.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceBacon the director indulges his wife, letting her play crazy and emotional in a showy performance that screams "serious actress."
- 50L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck Wilsonactor-turned-director Kevin Bacon (Sedgwick's husband) can't seem to decide if he's making a film about a loving eccentric or a sociopath.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenAlmost until the end, Loverboy maintains a shaky integrity. But in its final moments it caves in to convention with a mawkish epilogue to a story that ends with an appalling act of selfishness.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanBacon instinctively pushes Loverboy toward surreal domestic satire. It's fascinating to watch Sedgwick try to make Emily into a luminous wack job.
- 38New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsThe real trouble is at its core, with an over-the-top performance from Sedgwick that borders on Baby Jane campiness.
- 33The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThough he labors endlessly to account for her behavior, which is explained away by flashbacks to her decadent parents and a glamorous mother-figure played under Vaseline lens by an uncredited Sandra Bullock, Bacon fails to make her seem human.
- 25Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerBacon lavishes his camera on her (Sedgwick) in various states of dress and undress, but the script, by Hannah Shakespeare - talk about having to live up to a name! - is a cheat. It rarely expands on the boy's crises in having to deal with such a mother.