85
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelWhat is more striking about the film is that its secondary characters are also real. The acting appears to be non-acting. . . . Karen Black is a letter-perfect Rayette, and Lois Smith, as Robert's sister, gives the most sensitive small performance in the film. (Jack) Nicholson makes it all go. He proves he is more than a character actor with many scenes, especially the confrontation with his father.
- 100The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayFive Easy Pieces is the very definition of a character study, and one of the best American cinema has produced.
- 100EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanA key turn-of-the-decade film, with Nicholson railing against waitresses and barking at noisy dogs as Rafelson observes seedily picturesque roadside America.
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis superbly composed film comes as close to perfection as it gets.
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDeceptively simple, Pieces is one of the most complex pictures of the 1970s.
- 90Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonIt’s a great work of the Discover America Seventies.
- 80Village VoiceAndrew SarrisVillage VoiceAndrew SarrisThe plot is sometimes too odd, the style too strained, but the movie holds you just the same. Jack Nicholson plays skillfully and honestly against the sure-fire pathos of the alienated loner, the fallen angel in life’s game of musical chairs.
- It’s the women who steal the film, collectively recalling Grey Gardens (1975) in their distinctive, damaged mannerisms.
- 50Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrThe film embraces proletarian chic but still gets its laughs by abusing waitresses.