Quartet Reviews
Top CriticThe first thing to note is that Hoffman has apparently had a grand time working with these professionals, all of whom as residents of the home are splendid.
"Quartet" is one of those movies that looks so effortless, it's easy to forget just how much could have gone wrong.
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| Original Score: 3/4
'Quartet" is a lovely little charm bracelet of a film, a fairy tale for the geriatric set blessed with a wonderful cast and a carry-on attitude.
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| Original Score: B-
Hoffman, in his directorial debut, has crafted a hopeful movie with a warm atmosphere, but one that's realistic, too.
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| Original Score: 3/4
The premise may sound insufferable, but this light comedy about a nursing home for retired classical musicians isn't half-bad.
Whatever his imprint on the film might be, it's overshadowed by the performances of its stellar, veteran cast, to whom Hoffman wisely gives ample rein.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Stay for the credits; they're a lovely, poignant reminder of the passage of time, and of lives spent immersed in art and music.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Hoffman directs with elegance, allowing the denizens to be dignified, as well as adorable. We get a strong sense of each major character.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Always cute and breezy, "Quartet" often forgets that its protagonists are in a sobering stage of life, and that there's comedy to be found there as well.
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| Original Score: 2/4
In his first attempt at directing since Straight Time, Hoffman makes this bauble shine by buffing out some of its sentimentality.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Quartet shows us how art illuminates our lives, and shows us artists and performers who can still, after all these years, do some illuminating.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut is simply an old-fashioned charmer, relying on the considerable talents and charms of its seasoned British cast to win you over.
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| Original Score: 4/5
"Quartet" is about what happens when a performing artist's physical gifts start to fail with the years; whether acceptance or resistance is the wisest response; where to put one's pride. The movie just couches these issues in a cozy love story.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
The material settles for amiably familiar observations about the difficulties of growing old and the glories of being surrounded by beautiful music.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
It has a good heart. I'll give it that. Maybe what it needs is more exotic marigolds.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Masterpiece Theatre comfort food, a chance to watch fine actors act without too many complications.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Quartet is a bit shameless in its approach, but for those who enjoy a whimsical drama that includes scenery chewing from grand dames and hammy fellows, it's a welcome if often predictable treat.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
The characters in Quartet may be on their way out, but they aren't giving up without a fight.
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| Original Score: B
A mild but perfectly pleasant entertainment from playwright Ronald Harwood and Dustin Hoffman, staying offscreen here to make his directing debut.
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| Original Score: 3/4
'Quartet" isn't a penetrating inquiry into aging. Who wants that? We all know the facts, so let's not begrudge some fancy.
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| Original Score: 3/4
This is a lovely film directed with delicacy and taste, profoundly alive to the rhythms of its actors and characters, which gives its superlative British cast of stage and screen legends the time and space they deserve.
Mr. Hoffman's direction is impeccable, John de Borman's camera bathes the story in warm radiance, and the end credits are not to be missed, since they reveal who's really who in the supporting cast.
Hoffman uses all he's learned as a virtuoso actor to shape a film of flesh-and-blood characters, flushed with humor and tenderness.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Everyone onscreen is experienced enough to realize that we create our own fates, regardless of the directions in which we are pushed.
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| Original Score: 3/5
Like many actors-turned-filmmakers, first-time director Dustin Hoffman (yes, that Dustin Hoffman) indulges his performers above all else ...
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| Original Score: 2/5
Quartet knows just the tune to soothe its mature target audience ...
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| Original Score: B
The straightforward screenplay is elevated considerably by a series of sterling performances.
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| Original Score: 3/4
The result is a movie of enormous intelligence.
As for Hoffman's direction, the aforementioned montage notwithstanding, it's unobtrusive but not invisible ... and the ending is pretty much perfect.
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| Original Score: 3/5
"Quartet" is polite enough to be short, I'll give it that much.
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| Original Score: C-
A host of supporting actors played by singers and musicians grounds its more farcical and rarefied elements in white-haired reality.
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| Original Score: 3/5
"Quartet" is very much a performance piece, which plays to Hoffman's strength - as an actor he knows when to allow this excellent ensemble breathing room and when to tighten the belt.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
A big-hearted and veddy English chamber piece, never mind that it was directed - respectfully and with love - by famous Yank Dustin Hoffman.
