59
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanPlato's Retreat was a buffet of bodies, and the film catches the moment America could think that was tasty.
- 75The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasAmerican Swing could use the flair of similar portraits of disco-era debauchery like "Boogie Nights" or "Inside Deep Throat," but it’s even-handed in capturing the operation’s ambition and hubris. Just don’t bring an appetite.
- 75New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickDoesn't have a particularly well-defined point of view, but it is a succinct, entertaining and valuable record of a time that in some ways now seems as remote as the Roaring '20s.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterOften engrossing and humorous.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDirectors Jon Hart and Matthew Kaufman don’t delve deeply enough into the psyche of club founder Larry Levenson or the culture he exploited. But they do present an entertaining snapshot of his brief reign as New York’s self-appointed King of Swing.
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyMathew Kaufman and Jon Hart's documentary is just functionally assembled, lacking the style or larger social context that distinguished similar studies like "Inside Deep Throat."
- 50Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonThe film tries--and fails--to swing both ways, nostalgically glorifying its subject only to smugly revel in Levenson's ignominious demise.
- But even a comic spin on grimace-inducing tales of the icky buffet, the "mattress room" (whatever you're imagining, that's it) and Levenson's own buffoonish image as a 10-ladies-a-night player -- "He never read a book," Al Goldstein cracks -- can't keep an unexplored sadness from slithering in amid the orgy of upbeat testimonials.
- 40The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenIt leaves you feeling queasy.