74
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertRadio Days is so ambitious and so audacious that it almost defies description. It's a kaleidoscope of dozens of characters, settings and scenes - the most elaborate production Allen has ever made - and it's inexhaustible, spinning out one delight after another.
- 90Los Angeles TimesSheila BensonLos Angeles TimesSheila BensonA movie that draws you close to it like listeners around that glowing radio dial.
- 80The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyAs free in form as it is generous of spirit.
- 80EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonHumane and perceptive memoir from Allen, with a pleasant visual nostalgia and the usual slew of impressive performances.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineAllen presents a host of anecdotes and remembrances of things past, but one wishes it could have been slightly more cohesive. One of the joys in this picture is the soundtrack of songs of the period that will delight anyone who lived in those radio days.
- 63Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyChildhood anecdotes and charming vignettes are set against bright-light, big-city sets, a-dazzle with beautiful players. All that doesn't disguise the emptiness at the center of Radio Days, which misses the momentum that comes with a plot.
- 50Washington PostPaul AttanasioWashington PostPaul AttanasioWithout a story or, for that matter, any theme but a kind of aimless nostalgia, you peel and peel away at it only to find, in the end, nothing.
- 50Time OutTime OutIt's a great idea for a movie, but Allen fatally opts for a Fellini: Amarcord approach of formless narrative, larger-than-life coincidence, and rambling ruminations on what times there used to be.
- 50Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrAllen`s over-reliance on narration to create his emotional effects reminds us that his art is primarily, if not exclusively, a verbal one. He has never engaged the visual side of movies, never grasped film`s capacity to express emotions and ideas in images. Allen is a teller, not a shower.