20
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 40Time OutTime OutThere's an interesting idea about the way people assume wildly disparate personalities to please different sexual partners, but the flaccid execution of this promiscuous–New Yorkers circle jerk is more worthy of the clap than a round of applause.
- 40VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibThe jazz-scored picture relies heavily on quirkiness to round out shaky characterizations and inject interest into otherwise forgettable pairings.
- There's an argument to be made that sex scenes, done to death, are best left to the imagination - but only if they're replaced by something more interesting. In 30 Beats, the conversational foreplay is hopelessly flaccid.
- 38St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsWhere the original play "La Ronde" was a social satire about the transmission of venereal disease, 30 Beats is a sickly stepchild.
- 30The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenBeyond its eye candy, this wisp of a movie, inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's play "La Ronde," offers only hints of the complicated personalities behind the characters' sleek, well-toned surfaces.
- The only payoff to Lloyd's structure is that the young actress Condola Rashad, a recent Tony nominee, is allowed to appear in both the film's first scene and its final segment to bring the story full-circle, though her enigmatic, beguiling presence underlines just the sort of energy missing from the rest of the film.
- 25Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneWhile it lends itself to some interesting insight on the politics of non-exclusive, fuck-buddy dynamics, its characters are ultimately too one-dimensional and their dialogue too theatrical to sustain an involving cinematic experience.
- 20Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzArizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzIt means to be an interconnected story, in which one coupling leads to another in increasingly ridiculous fashion, until you're not only no longer interested, you're grinding your teeth, hoping it will end.
- 0Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonIt is absolutely terrible.